Kepak kita belum sempat terpuisi
Masih bercengkerama hati kita bersama angin petang ini
Di bawah langit yang sama
Rasa kita memandang cinta yang berbeda

Beribu masa tak berasa
Hambar pada kebisuan kita
Apa perlu aku tempuh seribu tahun lagi
Agar ketika pulang nanti,
sapamu adalah kata pertama yang melagu di telingaku?

Kau itu batu
Tidak mampu membaca ejaan rinduku
Aku ini debu
Mengejarmu bersama arus tak tahu malu
Tapi cintaku telah lama membadai di duniamu
Dan tak kubiarkan mati meski aku terbang seribu tahun lagi

Biarkan sayapku mengepak lagi
Wahai hati yang belum terisi
Biarkan aku terbang lagi
Hingga di kemudian hari, kesempatan menautkan kita di tempat ini lagi

Penulis: Iis Handayani Grasto
Pemenang Favorit Kontes Puisi #Photopoetry Periode I – Maret 2014

The poem above is the winner of poetry competition I was holding not long ago. Using the photograph as the theme to interpret in poem, several submission had come mostly from young people and students in my country. I chose one that became my favorite and I try to translate it to English. I found that it is more difficult to translate other people’s poem. I have to find the closest words or phrases to best describe the meaning that match with the author’s intention, and sometimes it is very difficult to find the equal translation for it. So, here is my best effort:

Return A Thousand Years

Our flaps have not been poemed
Still our hearts mingle with this afternoon wind
Under the same sky
Our feelings looking at the different love

A thousand epochs aren’t felt
Vapid in our silence
Should I go a thousand years more
So when I’ll get home later,
your greeting is the first word that will sing in my ear

You are a rock
Unable to read the spelling of my longing
I am a dust
Chasing you with shameless flows
But my love has long been storming in your world
And I would not let it die even though I must fly a thousand years more

Let my wings flapping again,
O hearts that have not been filled
Let me fly once more
Until later in life, chances will intertwine us in this place again

Author: Iis Handayani Grasto (a college student in Indonesia)