Sitok Srengenge (4)

OBITUARY FOR THE MOON

My child sleeps figuring the moon
and in class her eyes still keep the night
when the teacher speaks of the sun
My child draws a horizon, the ocean,
a ship with no pilot,
and the teacher's skirt is teased by the rising tide,
the teacher is eaten by fish
In bed my child weeps
the tears drop onto the notebook
full of scribbles of red, orange, yellow,
green, blue, indigo, purple
My child says it is a pool!
My child wishes to help the teacher,
so my child draws a small boy fishing
while looking at the moon above that pool
And after that, the fish in the first verse
becomes a snack for the teacher's dog
My child falls asleep again,
figuring the moon
in my child's eyes the night is held
but the dog keeps howling for the fish
My child quickly draws fish
inside eyes which contain the sea
but the fish whine for the teacher
My child quickly draws the teacher
in eyes that still contain the school
but the teacher is again teaching about the sun
My child repeats the drawing of the horizon, the ocean,
the ship without a pilot...
in my child's eyes the world is contained
but the teacher does not like this
and gives my child a score of five
In the following days,
My child fears drawing anything again
except for commemorating the small boy in the second verse
who longs for the moon above the pool

1991
(Translated by Margaret Agusta)

YOU, THE WIND

At first I thought you were a wave,
but each time I dived in to swim
you would spin up like a wind storm
The sweat bursts and soul and body are restless
become a prayer of untouched Love
There, I find comfort in your breeze
once a while just before you blow away
I hunt the voice of the flute in the distance,
which I find are the rustling branches
I am dazed by the illusion of your moves,
as silent as the stone within my longing
Now I know there is no need to chase you
You live within and outside me
- there is no distance yet you are so far,
so close yet not touching
if it is true you are the wind
I will breathe you in as I wish
Deep within the heart that beats,
you are the new spirit of my life
Flows the blood, flows
within the vein of my Love
because of you, my Love

1991 (Translated by Margaret Agusta)