In prayer: I

I see: Symbols in light

I see the universe

when You, in a flash, become radiant in the Word

and resound in thunder. Beyond sound, the night is alive

the leaf clings to its branch.

as the rain begins. I hear the earth of old

nothing stands between Us: the cold

glows ever brighter with the blowing wind

In prayer: II

when even nothing did not exist

I walked (without movement,

a possible sign) and We met

a pair of Nothings

purified (absent of

movement, it seemed a

pleasure): as Silence welled

In prayer: III

traces of Flowers everywhere; how tempting

for us to search,

to plunge into the roar of colors

before the season sheds its leaves

and later to be lost

(enticed by Flower traces)

or be caught by the shadows of Light

in our anxious passion

Sonnet: X

who scratches at the blue sky

who tears apart the passing clouds

who crystallizes in the fog

who nestles in the withered flower

who dissolves in the purple haze

who breathes with the pulse of time

who vanishes each time I open the door

who melts beneath my glance

who speaks in the spaces of my words

who protests in the shadows of my silence

who comes to take me on the hunt

who suddenly tears away my veil

who explodes within me

: who am I

Sonnet: Y

though we often meet

among the visitors to the grave

in the spaces of blue voices

and mires of purple and gray

though I often remember you

among words so long ago lost

and sealed in shadows

of murky desire

though I often greet you

at each change of weather

when green turns to glowing red

in the revolution of the wheel

: I know not why I yearn

in trembling terror in the waiting room

-- Sapardi Djoko Damono

Translated by John H. MacGlynn

(Taken from the book Suddenly the Night, courtesy of the Lontar Foundation)