Identity Card

By Tararith

I am Khmer.

I need identity card to vote.

For so many year I have been mislead,

Thinking I would be given a card.

But that was not so.

I have missed voting for two or three terms.

The identity card is a small thing.

But more important than any other thing.

I am not a member of the Party,

that hooligan group.

They get their cards delivered to them without asking.

True, I am Khmer

And have never done wrong.

I speak and write the Khmer language

But am denied an identity card.

All of my family and friends are Khmer

And they too are denied identity cards.

Everybody knows the village leader

And he knows us.

Some he will give a card to,

And others must first join the Party.

Only then will he provide an i. d.