by Chairil Anwar (Indonesian National Poet)
Translations from Bahasa Indonesia by JOSE MA. SISON
Progressive Review No. 2; July-August 1963

AKU
I

When comes my turn
I wish none will weep
Not even you

There is no room for sobbing

I am a wild beast
Lost from the herd

Let a pellet break my skin
I firmly rage and charge

The wound I bear and the poison runs
Runs
Until enmeshed in its own smart and tangle

And I will be more mindless

I want to live a thousand years more

ORANG BERDUA
THE TWO OF US

This room is the ultimate web

Where the limits of the night are lost.

I and she only reach.

For the black raft

Will we drift ashore

Or be engulfed

By a spiteful vortex?

Your violet eyes are stone-hard.

Are we still to embrace

Or follow that shadow?

SIA-SIA
TRIFLING

The last time you came
it was to bring a bouquet
Of red rose and white jasmine:
your blood and pureness.
You scattered them at my feet
with a look of assurance: For you.

After that we were both perplexed
We asked each other: What is this?
Love? The two of us failed to comprehend.

That whole day we were together
We did not dare come to each other.

Ah!!! My heart which refused to give
The ruins their peace.