On New Adventures

Always, the best things in our lives, they come 
Unbidden, unasked, unexpectedly.
What does it take for the pale slivers of
Random good fortune and fate to greet us
And beckon us with grace and welcome smile?
How is it that such blessings often bid
Welcome only once Time has done its work,
When Aeschylus’ awful grace has worn down
Grieving hearts into spartan fists, never
Falt’ring in their austere, singular task
Of mournful remembrance for what once was?
And yet, and yet - Fortuna will demand
That we wipe our tears and hoist sails anew:
Fresh winds now come to stir this placid sea
A new adventure calls - we sail today.

Tentang Rindu Yang Bakal Terubat

Palu gendang bertali pantas 
Alun degup berderap kencang
Hati girang meletus deras
Rindu hati bukan kepalang

Jasad jauh beribu batu
Namun pisah hanya sejenak
Dua hati terjalin satu
Takkan lerai walau terjarak

Terbang tinggi sayap garuda
Depa besi membelah awan
Kanda datang bertemu dinda
Kasih tulus mengubat rawan

On Burying a Father

He buried his father today, hot tears
Streaking down his cheeks as the smoky haze
Of incense and burnt flowers bathed him and
His fam’ly with aching, foreign sadness.
His father is gone, and he can’t fathom
Why his heart feels muted, mutilated.

On Being Alone

What does it mean to be here alone?
I see and hear the hubbub, the smiles
And laughter of people less lonely
Than I am. I marvel at their ease.
That calm sense of knowing that they are
Exactly where they need to be, with
The people they ought to and want to
Be with. I imagine what it must
Feel like, to be like them, to be them.
My envy eats me like a cancer.

On My Crown of Envy

Gritted teeth grinding into rough cinders
The ash of a thousand spurns in my mouth
While you glory in the mud of smugness
Your face cloying with its curdled pleading

I hurl my hurts into this black abyss
And now from this yawning, drowning distance
I can feel the dark fire of thwarted hopes 
They scald with the flames of unholy wrath

And this crown of envy melts my skull down
With the heat of a thousand glaring suns
That burns these sunken cheeks and boils away
My angry tears - they wither with the light.