International Journal of Indonesian Studies Volume 1, Issue 3 | Page 144

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INDONESIAN STUDIES
SPRING 2016
‘Lift your noses high
so you don’t see those you walk on.’

(Ibid)

And
‘Cleanse the blood from your hands
so as not to frighten me
then we can sit and drink tea
and talk of the sufferings of society
and the nature of life and death.’

(Ibid.)

The parishioners then respond:
‘Joyfully the people answered with:
La-la-la,li-li-li, la-li-lo-lu
They stood. They stamped their feet on the floor
Stamping in one rhythm and together
Uniting their voices in
La-la-la, li-li-li, la-li-lo-lu.’

(Ibid.)

Unwittingly, the priest has united his parishioners and their voices in unison to mock him.
This unity gives them strength and they begin to shout together:
‘precisely and rhythmically’ (Ibid.p.9)
At this stage of the poem, the priest and parishioners are gaining energy from each other
until the whole becomes a noisy and calamitous scene. The rhythms of the priest’s words
are taken up by the parishioners with an energy which is borne of extended deprivation; the
one is echoed by the other.
‘The people explode with the passion of their lives.’
They stood on the pews.
Banged with their feet.
Bells, gongs, door-pailings, window-panes
If it made noise they pounded on it.
With the one rhythm
In accompaniment to their joyous shouts of:
Bong- bong-bong.Bang-bing-bong.

(Ibid.)

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