#599 On Death’s Dark Machete

Fate's marionette, you ambled blind
Through Life's dark byways - lost, unmoored.
With every hurt, you hurt in kind,
Unthinking, Life has left you floored.
Your eyes alit with Terror's blaze,
Death's dark machete counts the days.

(inspired by Paul Auster's father, and all the other traumatised, useless fathers out there)

#594 Tentang Nafas Rindu

Dengan setiap rukun ruku’ dan sujud
Aku ampuhkan seluruh pancaindera
Menempuh alur waktu dan wujud
Membucu setiap sisa rasa sengketa
Pancungkanlah nafsu buasku, Tuhan
Agar dapat aku bernafas tanpa sedan.

#584 On Your Subtle Benediction

Benedictus,
Beneath the humdrum throb of daily life,
I can almost hear the silent bassline
Of your Music: the constant and active
Act of Creation that disarms the knife
Of Chaos and repels the saturnine
And the unjust and the invidious.
I close my eyes; I will away the intrusive
Glare of vile, idolatrous strife.
I surrender to Your Music: subtle and benign.