three indonesian poets: sitor situmorang + toto sudarto bachtiar +subagio sastrowardojo ( TENGGARA 5/ 1969 )
three indonesian poets
TENGGARA 5/ 1969/ Dept. of English,
University of Malaya,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
TENGGARA 5
CONTENTS p. 3 TENGGARA 5
Cathedrale of Chartres
by Sitor Situmorang
TRANSLATED BY MOHAMAD HAJI SALLEH
Will He speak to me in the silent night?
While the snow falls and the birds white with flakes?
Times that I wish to surrender my heart
In the shelter of holy prayer
Lord, we shall never meet again
In the prayer of the assembly
Now I bring you love in the eyes of my speechless beloved
Life is at one with after-life
She sobs on Easter morning
While we visit Chartres, at the church
The prayer is sad on the colour of wet glass
Christ is crucified, man is speechless
And that night, before cock-crow
And the people of Chartres leave the church
She weeps under the leaves of autumn's night
Memory wanders in the rain
Before mother, wife, children and Christ
My heart is torn between adultery and fidelity
My love is one, its God is one
Life and eternity are one
That is the story of our love
That began in a flower market
In the early morning around Notre Dame de Paris
In the spring and our eyes are dimmed
That is the story of the Easter Day
While the whole world is haunted with anguish
With temptation, adultery, love and city
Because of her, of me and my faithful wife
Then in the night, on the bed
Float the holy hymns from the church of belief
The curse of desire and the blessings of God are united
The beckoning of faithful love and woman's embrace
That is
The story of Easter
While the earth is wet
Tears of anxiety
And the blooming of flowers
On the soil of France
On sweet earth
When Christ was crucified
To the Dead
by Toto Sudarto Bachtiar
If you have forgiven me, because to forgive is good
You have not understood yourself
If I have forgiven you, because to forgive is good
You do not understand yourself
So much forgiveness for so many sins
So many sins for so much forgiveness
Are they only reserved for the world of the dead
Without air, without good intentions?
But I shall not forgive you, it's a pity,
Without understanding myself
Without understanding yourself
While I do not desire an early death now
Snow
by Subagio Sastrowardojo
In the beginning was snow
before time was created
a female's touch excites memory
that was the world
and the atmosphere spoke on
because speech never ends
and flakes fell like a dream
The polar winds were blowing
touching without fingers
in the front a striped dog barked
in vain announcing the day
only the old wall before its destruction
and snow lengthened the day
Time woke up with regret
while man with his ugly face
left his foot-prints in the snow
bleeding with each step
while the rumbling of the stars fused
with the neighs of horses
longing is cast against the sky
At this moment creation was begun
while hunched men from southern caves
breathed life and language
for all that could not be articulated
while desire dripped down their thighs
produced weak generations
with thin faces and folded eyebrows
their voices hoarse, imitating the preying hawks
With their coarse hands, they dug graves
in the snow for their dead gods
and in the frozen puddles
they searched their reflections for the day
between the dawn and the lightning of twilight
and the snow fell again covering all
in the madness of dreams
(p. 4 -11 TENGARRA 5/ 1969)
--------------
TENGGARA'S CONTRIBUTORS
SITOR SITUMORANG, poet, critic and playwright was perhaps the
the foremost literary figure in the fifties and early sixties. Born in
Tapanuli (Sumatra), in 1924 of a Christian family he has been editor
and correspondent for various literary publications. he has lived in
Holland and Paris, where some of his most imporatnt works were
written. Critics have seen as existential leaning in his poems. He is
now under detention for being involved with the P.K.I. His publications
include Surat Kertas Hidjau, Wadiah Tk Bernama, Dalam Sadiajak
and Zamna Baru.
TOTO SITUMORANG, born in 1929 near Tjeribon, has published two
books of poems : Suara, (1956), and Etsa, (1958). His poems, intelligent
and lyrical in their lin writing.es, stand distinctively apart from the main trend
of Indonesian poetry.
SUBAGIO SASTROWARDOJO , poet, critic and short-story writer was
born in Madiun in 1924. He gained his M.A. at the Universitas Gadjah Mada,
Jogjakarta nad later studied at yale University, where he is now completing
his Ph.D. An intellectual poet who has introduced the contemporary
urban idiom to Indonesian poetry, he is also a controversial figure for
his ideas. His publications include Simphoni, (1957), and Kedjantanan di-
Sumbing, (1957), (shortstories).
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