back in my memory

Back in my memory

The years back in the village

Of Malay women at the well

Showering in the open

My mother said to me

“Don't look at them

They are the witches

Believe me son

Don't go near them”

The young boy

Stood at the garden fence

Looking at the Malay women

With buckets brought up water

The Malay women saw me

“What are you looking at?

You want to go into the well?”

I ran back to the house

The Malay women

In sarong clad around their waists

Walking slowly back to their house

Carrying the pails along

I never watched them again

The witches stigma my mother said

The Malay women lived alone

They didn't mix around