BALI ISLAND
cecep
By OKA RUSMINI
1
perhaps in your eyes there never was any map
of the ancestors of Balinese earth
or perhaps life has never taught you beauty
and the leaves so often picked by our ancestors
along the bank of Badung river
never told the tales of their genealogy
I remember
when as a child the river told me many stories
our ancestors sat close to the edge
with their legs stretched out into the water
letting their sarongs get soaked
as the water washed gladly over them
I often ran along the edge with my tricycle
the coconut trees teaching me the fable of a certain temple
you must learn the genealogy of earth ,they said,
for hundreds of offering have been prepared
by those who own this land
my fragrant Bali, the blood of the dancer turned into flames
that burn away the floral fertility of my land
children still play
along the shore, and an old woman waits for her grandchild
small fish, the aroma of earth
gives youth to her breath
2
Do you know the meaning of earth?
or perhaps you've never heard the question
the sky that protects you from the sun's stretched bow
has made you forget the ancestral blood
that has often inundated your form
the sound of carriages that once woke up women for the market
has been packaged into fairy tales
far across the sea,the sky that you've begun to make your enemy
has no foam or coral that you might sculpt into a form of civilization
was it an idiot native of this land who occupied this simple plot of
earth?
estrangement envelopes every world on which we might plant our feet
perhaps we still have a temple
at which you steal glances thinking
it too might be made an entertainment
where now can the ancestors of the sacred Sang Hyang dancer go
to make their confession of faith?
there is no ritual
the ancestors return home
the water at the edges of the Badung river refuses our touch
the old woman who often brought her grandchild here
has lost the river
how many genealogies of earth do you understand?
who can you trust to shoulder the burden of these mistakes?
if you longer have trees
or earth thet gives off the aroma of blossoming rice
to whom will you sing the song of your greatness?
people with no eyes, hearths or head
are only brave enough to proposition the beauty of your land
you dance on its body
tell me: which dance do you really understand?
3
so long as women entrust their prayers to the leaves
Temples shiver, their vomit soaking the statues
foreign hand in giving carvings
my Temples
have spoken to the rain
that never will give birth to their seed
hundreds of dances only understood by the gods have faded away
their shards killing off the blossom of rice
rituals no longer have voices of their own
and women who were often awakened by the sound of carriages
no longer know the beauty of the body of rice
smoke envelopes every earth on which I plant my steps
I see blood swiftly flowing
the wound of coral in the sea
the sky rent asunder
so what I cant't even distinguish its colors
people of the coast across the sea
bury hundreds of additional corpses
is it a native of this land who weeps in the corners of the city
no longer able to connect her rituals with the scent of the earth that
is hers
and just to smell the earth
the owners of the map, of the Badung river and the sea,
even the gods, must pay the price of the aroma of their own land
4
where is the earth that once dirtied my tinny feet
where the ceremony of my birth
complete with so many kinds of flowers and leaves of the forest
that cleansed me so that I came to posses this land?
where the ancestors
who so often sang the song of genealogy of the greatness of humanity?
where are the dancers
absorbed in devotion who borrowed night study
inspiration from the gods of dance?
history no longer has any greatness
for you no longer know the earth
as long as the leaves prepare death
how many plots of land will you set aside for the burial?
(translated by Thomas M. Hunter)
OKA RUSMINI is one of Indonesian outstanding poets. FIND MORE OF HER
POEMS and poems from other Indonesian poets at BILINGUAL ENCYCLOPEDIA
OF INDONESIAN POETRY:
http://www.geocities.com/bilingualpoetry18/index.html