Formed in your heart, this was your will:
Rain in cataracts, hurricanes unleashed,
All foundering, engulfed—
Your luxuriant garden now a mere ruin.
Puny folk sent helter-skelter
Run, leap, tumble, duck,
Waters ever rising … rising,
Primeval trees uprooted, toppled.
Clamorous cries muffled … then lost
Within the thunderous tumult.
Lightning flashes cleave the gloom
Flickering high like tongues of flame.
The ark is launched and, floating up,
Shelters your beloved Noah.
Delivered into boundless freedom
His voice is calm amid the anguish.
//
A pair of shepherds crowned with grace,
Fair sons of Father Abraham:
Two light rays from a single diamond
Though born of different mothers.
Dispute divides us to this day
Over which of the two holds the treasure.
Our most cunning jewellers, down the ages,
Have neglected to leave an appraisal.
Alas, my beloved,
It’s all no use to me.
I wait on One alone—
Longing to feel you near
Like Moses on the heights of Sinai.
Amir Hamzah (1911 - 1946) Indonesia
Translated by James Scanlan
Source: Cordite Poetry Review
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