My Chosen Poem

In the middle of my French lesson yesterday, a group of advanced students suddenly entered our classroom, and one of them started reading a poem. Of course, as stupid beginners, we didn’t understand a word. We grinned and smirked at one another, then politely clapped as the reading ended.

But after that, another female student went around the classroom. She was carrying a wooden basket full of beautiful and vibrant pouches. It is the month of poetry she said, to celebrate “couleur femme” or the color of women. And so she offered each of us to take a pouch. Each pouch, apparently, had a poem in it, written on a carefully rolled colored paper. A poem… that we weren’t supposed to read until we got home.

Fine. So without thinking, I chose a bright green pouch and stuck it in my bag.

And when I got home last night, I opened the pouch, unrolled the blue paper, and started reading (and consulting my dictionary for translations). The poem I chose was surprisingly… errr… should I say… “accurate”? Yes, it accurately (and amazingly) describes the confusing emotions I’ve been experiencing this year… and the tiny speck of faith that I still have left. Tiny, almost non-existent… but it’s still there.

So, here’s my chosen poem, which I had translated into both English and Bahasa Indonesia.

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Autour de moi, solitudes éteintes by Marie-Claire Bancquart

O brûlantes, arrachées
à elles-mêmes
par l’ordre ancien !
Mais je pense surtout à celle
de siècle plus lointain
qui écrivit :
Bel ami ainsi est de nous
Ni vous sans moi ni moi sans vous.
Au-delà de la différence
je choisis le grand héritage indivis :
bonheur de rues et de nuages
d’une musique, d’un seul mot peut-être,
parcourant la précarité de toute cette partition
qu’un jour nous cesserons de lire, vous et moi. 
Que demeure du moins, peut-être infime, le 
« Bel ami ainsi est de nous », 
cette voix d’union parmi la dissonance universelle !

*****************

Around me, loneliness is weakening by Marie-Claire Bancquart

O burned, torn off from themselves by the ancient order!

But I think especially of that

who centuries ago wrote:

Beautiful friend thus is us

Neither you without me nor me without you

Beyond the difference

I choose the large undivided heritage:

happiness of streets, and clouds

a piece of music, perhaps only a word,

traversing the instability of all this partition

and one day we will cease reading, you and me.

What remains at least, perhaps negligible

« Beautiful friend thus is us »,

This solid voice among the universal dissonance!

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Di sekitarku, kesendirian meredup oleh Marie-Claire Bancquart

Oh terbakar, tercabik dari diri mereka sendiri oleh rezim kuno!

Tetapi pikiranku terutama tertuju pada dia

yang berabad lampau menulis:

Sahabat karib adalah berasal dari kami

Tak ada engkau tanpa aku atau aku tanpa engkau

Di atas semua perbedaan

Aku pilih warisan besar milik bersama:

kebahagiaan di jalanan, di awan

sepotong musik, mungkin hanya sebuah kata

menelusuri kerapuhan semua partisi ini

dan pada suatu hari kita akan berhenti membaca, engkau dan aku.

Yang tertinggal, mungkin hanya sedikit

« Sahabat karib adalah berasal dari kami »,

Suara yang teguh di antara disonansi universal!