Sukra's Arrest
- variation on the Babad Tanah Jawi
My name is Sukra. Born in Kartasura, 17.., early one Tuesday morning, as the moon rolled behind the mountain.
At that time, people say, the dogs in the jungle bayed long and loud, and a retainer remarked, "A jackal's cry was heard the day the Kurawa children were born."
My father, a blue-blood of power, paled.
Before his eyes appeared a vision: the trees, all taking their leave and departing, never to return.
On my 21st birthday, I was arrested.
Dust returns to dust
Footsteps hide in earth
When Sukra was dragged away
The whole of Kartasura said nothing
His father cried in the wind
And the women in their mirrors
"My prince, my lovely prince
my eyelids are on fire!"
What's wrong? Why am I being arrested like this, out of the blue?
The soldiers said nothing as they covered my eyes.
The horses moved. I tried to discern direction and distance.
But, of course, it was no use.
An intensely long gyration, an intense prickling of guesses, was this journey of mine
Until, finally, the procession stopped.
The place was quite.
"Tell me, my friend, where is this place?"
"Do not speak, young sir; in a moment you will learn for yourself."
There was a room I could not see
A tremor convulsed through the room I could not see.
They loosened the cover from my eyes. And I saw for the first time the dark that follows twilight.
And then I knew, after that, what my fate would be.
That night the Prince, the Crown Prince, had unsheathed his will.
Who is the traitor
Darkness or hate?
Why does a fate of seven daggers
Stand before this young man
"Do you know, Sukra, why you were ordered to be brought here?"
(Weapons tapped the floor)
"No, my Lord."
"Do you think yourself a brave man?"
No, I am not brave. The eyes of the Crown Prince were not quite visible, but I could feel jaws grinding together inside his puffy cheeks, causing the shadows to stir.
"You oppose me."
I heard the sound of horse's hooves scraping on the gravel.
"You insult me, you wantonly display your charm, you belittle me,
You entice my women, you pollute my kingdom.
Answer me, Sukra."
The night was a wall, a wall
on which the shadows of javelins played.
"I know nothing of that, my Lord."
The moon floundered to earth
Before morning arrived
"Beat him, here!"
My God, scarlet lies
You wish to taste the bitterness of blood
"Put ants in his eyes!"
The whole of Kartasura said nothing
A Poet's Final Day, One Afternoon
A gloomy day, the wind was blowing. I counted the trees, one by one
There was no world more different: wilting leaves, ever more silent
The sun passing, in subsidence, as hours hung heavily, and the day waited
For utter completion, my God, for utter completion
And then You came, to greet an uninvited poem
At high noon, on a day of no discernible weather
The day grew chill, my God, as the wind waited, ever ready
To leave me in my busyness and for love to steal away
-- Goenawan Mohamad
(Translated by John H. McGlynn)
(Taken from Menagerie 2 by the courtesy of The Lontar Foundation, Jakarta)