Rencounter

Beside the rim of the grave I stand,

Morning light bestrews the earth,

Bright red, it hits my eyes.

My soul inclineth to the dust.

Full of desire to see you,

I fill up and overflow.

Although we are face to face here,

Through the thickness of this earth,

I look up and around me:

Graves in a row by hundreds,

The earth reddens, the grass thickens,

Marble sings, the wood grows mossier.

Like a bolt of lightning in my heart:

So much of sorrow poured out,

So many times, to gnaw men’s hearts,

A flood of tears upon the dust.

O white-corsaged little sister

In the earth, you are not alone!

And my broken soul lies flat

At the feet of the One Creator:

Before Thee, my grief is the world’s,

My sorrow the whole universe’s.

I am a speck of dust in the air

Swept off by the whirlwind.

The cool dew pours out upon my soul

And in my eyes gleams Light.

Takdir Alisjahbana
tr. after Damais