Wabah

selamping pundakmu damar melati.
gemerincing merah saga mata tembaga
pudar sehempas saja.

santa maria! di mana benteng itu?
nyala biru dimardimar gaib sepanjang malam
depan keranda sepasukan pencari yang menimbun
jiwajiwa nestapa. menuju lorong sunyi
sepanjang pikiranku. jubahjubah kosong
dan sepatu angin mengalir dari pintupintu
tak terbuka. tak ada waktu sedetik saja.
bulan beku dan muram durja.

santa maria! kenapa pijar api membakar
dan mengabukan tubuhtubuh sengsara itu?
dengan kereta berderap tanpa suara. anjinganjing
gaib mengusung rumahrumah ke tanah jauh.

santa maria! ibu yang memberi aku rahim bagi sejarah.
memintaku diperkosa jaman yang sombong.
dadaku dijamah dan diremasnya. air susuku
dihisaphisapnya. kubisikkan jerit penghabisan.
kesakitan yang tanpa ujung!

aku pulang. mencari jejak kekosongan.

Kockengen, 2002

© Dorothea Rosa Herliany
Kockengen

The time span

The fox eats its own legs in the trap / to go free.
Brendan Kennelly

I seek no evidence for emanations.
Don’t stifle assumptions with notions.
Everyone has their favourite temptations,
instead of sleeping to see the night as a dark motion
during which this and that is to be healed.
The moment can easily be swapped
for another, the day is full with things present
all the same. Can, one should think,
a day be anything other than an avoided accident?

The only thing we’re lacking is proof.
On the glass pane one can see spread wings.
A bird lies in a concrete manner
below the window, broken by things
invisible. Before the negative from full flight
it’s especially hard to break through the obvious.
The time span from grasping to forgetting
measured no more than from opening one’s mouth to speaking.

Translated by Hans-Christian Oeser and Gabriel Rosenstock