Schattensprache

Jakarta: Night

At the corner of Kebon Sirih
And Thamrin
I stopped. And looked up
At the neon lights
Blinking on rooftops.
Metropolis!

I freeze under the streetlights
The traffic lights
I think, I am
This is Jakarta
Not Hong Kong
Or Lake Toba

I left all that
on a boat
one clear morning
long ago

Now
It's late
Time to go home.

(By Sitor Situmorang. Original poem taken from Sitor Situmorang: Kumpulan Sajak 1980-2005, edited by J.J. Rizal, Jakarta, Komunitas Bambu, 2006, p. 40.)

posted by lo! @ 12:08 AM