echo

sepi!
(sepi
sepi
sepi
sepi)

wwyd?

flutterby, flutterby
can't you hear my heart sigh
when we go see fireflies dancing?
some subtlety you're not getting
(what if i told you i'm in love?)

War

almost morning, love.
cometh, vicious enemy called time
two hands and a face,
deciding enough

Magic Boy

[this is for the boy
with his magical deploy]

i sing songs
all day long
you do tricks
just for kicks

out from your hat
a little blue cat
one pair of socks
and a grandfather's clock

out from your head
"you grow flowers!" i said
a little bit of incentive
for something else you're going to give

abracadabra and alakazam!
there you wand with a big kind of bang
from behind a mystifying smoke
you appear with a rainbow-colored cloak

what's the occasion to be treated sky high?
a question to which you proudly reply,
"to hand you my heart, of course,
something mine that has always been yours."

hancur pelan-pelan

sebab apa yang seharusnya kau ketahui? apakah keinginanku
menari bersama di bawah hujan? untuk bertelanjang kaki
bermain lumpur bersamamu? dan berlari-larian mengejar
kupu-kupu di padang rumput yang hanya muncul di malam hari?

tapi sebab dan inginku hanya berupa sunyi. jika tak
kau sadari sekarang maka selamanya kusimpan
mungkin lain kali, mungkin.

(tapi diam-diam aku beruraian, diam-diam
aku pecah berpelantingan)

inspirasi

membacamu suatu perjuangan,
sepertibukutebaltanpatitiktanpakoma
lari lari dan lari terdengar suaraku
sendirian membaca ceritamu

saat ini kau tengah beristirahat
mesin ketik tak tik tak tik tak sibuk mengetik
menikmati segelas teh hangat yang sudah
dingin terbengkalai sejak tadi malam,
sambil mengasbak puntung ke-19 rokok milikmu itu

ah, sunyi kamar ini, kataku
kau hanya diam dan aku teraba-aba untuk pergi
baju yang berserakan satu-persatu kupunguti,
kupakai lagi menurut tampilan kemarin
petang.

kau hanya diam, menarik napas sejenak
sambil menengok ke arah pintu.
menunggu siapa dirimu? inspirasi takkan
datang lewat pintu

tapi kau tak menunggu kedatangan.
kau menyuruhku untuk pulang

membacamu penuh perjuangan, kataku
membuka pintu

...

dari depan mesin ketikmu yang sudah
mulai mengetik tak tik tak tik kembali,
kau pastikan,

kita jumpa lagi nanti malam?

Karmic Tune

here's to our karmic tune
and all its wrong melodies
instead of making you swoon
I become most everybody

but at least i can take it slow
I have this patience i can coach
and maybe, baby, in our next life,
you'll be a cockroach I'll despise

don't go away

i used to sit at the park with you
watched together the sky change hue
and we imagined clouds like tarts
counted airplanes, kites and stars

remember how we loved
all the things we pointed up
planes and birds and kites and stars
and all the clouds that looked like tarts

i, as you, still love the memories
but now airplanes are my enemies
because, "airplanes," to you i say
"they always take you away."

listening.

see?
as you play "secret heart"
you begin to ask
the same question
to yours.

Stifle.

i need a stopgap treatment
because all i do is dream
about you and i being us.

Gimme a thousand TVs.

for you.

how i love you is odd.
like an African long for the rain but
fear a two day pour… and secretly he adores
the sweet scent of wet soil after.
like the Kuiper Belt – on the outside, but
with Pluto it grazes the galaxy… it needs a closer look
to comprehend.
how i love you is strange – as alien as what we call
faith: believing something
that is hard to, let alone can be seen,
but nothing proves otherwise so we stand proud.
also is strange, hearing Satie’s Gymnopedie in our heads, while
chasing monsters with butterfly nets in slow motion –
an esoteric thing, enjoyed by
those who anxiously wait to travel
in the speed of light, they have stars to reach
like you; something to fawn upon.
nothing lasts, it comes and goes. but
in a way everything does last, like
how i love you;
a law of Anicca: Impermanence. a bridge
between Dukkha and Anatta. nothing lasts
because they rise and cease to
rise and cease again.
like an Ouroboros. an unstoppable circle.
nothing lasts. but nothing dies.

essentially,
that is
how i love you.

forever

you wish we can fly
and i tipped on my toes
but we see it's a lie
we don't know how to float

alas you and i
forget how to try
flap, flap, flap our wings
but pulled down by this abyss

sing a sad love lullaby
as we drop into this hole
our fingers intertwined
now we'll never let go

what ur looking for

my dear, it's simple.

as simple as life's
thousands of variables
reduced to just one equation
as clear as the
one truest truth
of all the things i offer
it's as beguiling,
as gut-wrenching
as conniving,
as bewitching

as love.

love stoned

ah, jadi kau sedang jatuh cinta
nyaman rasanya, bukan?

aku tahu, aku juga
sedang jatuh cinta

maka jika aku berbunga-bunga...
rangkaian itu untukmu,

tersenyumlah bersamaku

memento

when i die
remember i smiled
and laughed
with you, wreaths on our heads
keep in mind
in my subtle way
i loved
you and all your many ways

awan

awan pecah berbulir-bulir
dan kita berdansa di bawahnya
bersama hujan, bersama jutaan
jiwa yang terlantar kiranya
tapi kita tahu hujan,
dan yang memecah awan
tak ada 'terlantar' bagi kita:
kita di tengah hujan,
sedang jatuh cinta

Golconda

yours is a Golconda;
stunningly prepossessing
with the supposed shine of diamond mines
and it will heal.
but mine is evaporating
as we try here to say and speak
of nothingness and meaninglessness
of words we're both wanting to hear.

Telat.

maumu apa?
keriangan sudah lewat kini
kunjunganmu tak berarti

(un)secretive

i know you know
not a whit of anything i know,
only bits and bits and then pieces
stuck together in an enigma.
an unsolvable conundrum.
a secret that is mine, and i know it all alone
the chest is locked shut, tucked away into nowhere.
but like the chest i am
exuding tiny whispers in the air
alluding to pretended cluelessness.
you know as little as much.

hush hush

talk is cheap
so i won't say it to you
but the next time we take a picture
have a notice of what i'll sign for you