Poetry - inspiring

My Friend And I

(Chairil Anwar)

We share the same path, late at night
with the fog, penetrating
and the rain, drenching our bodies.
Ships freeze in the harbor.
My blood curdles. My mind congeals.
Who is it that speaks?
My friend is but a skeleton
scourged of his strength.
He asks the time!
It is so late.
All meaning has sunk and drowned
and motion has no purpose.
(1943)

Kawanku dan Aku

Kami sama pejalan larut
Menembus kabut
Hujan mengucur badan
Berkakuan kapal-kapal di pelabuhan

Darahku mengental pekat. Aku tumpat pedat

Siapa berkata-kata…?
Kawanku hanya rangka saja
Karena dera mengelucak tenaga

Dia bertanya jam berapa?

Sudah larut sekali
Hilang tenggelam segala makna
Dan gerak tak punya arti.

Coffee Spattering the Forest

(Taufik Ismail)

Three million hectares
of newspaper pages
to be eaten by flames
This morning’s edition
four fingers long
two straight and even columns
unloaded from the back of a pick-up
Dawn at the printers
piled on the asphalt
put in order by the sellers
before the sun is risen
thrown into front yards
picked up by the servants
placed on the dining table
looked at in passing
while straightening one’s tie
with the wife, tidying her hair
and the children running around
a morning full of things to do
Marmelade on finger tips
and bread clutched in one hand
Crossing one’s arms
coffee spills on the reading matter
spattering three million hectares of newspaper
two immensely long columns
The fire dies, the forest smoulders
The damp newspaper is folded four times
placed in the woven hard-plastic basket
and thrown away
that very morning
at precisely thirty past seven.

1988