Ruminations

Penawar.Release

Kerengga di dalam buluh,
Serahi berisi air mawar,
Sampai hasrat di dalam tubuh,
Tuan seorang jadi penawar.

A red ant, trapped; it bites like fire,
A sting that only rosewater can ease,
When my whole being is consumed with desire,
In thee and in thee alone, I find release.

Najib Tun Razak's Pantun

Malaysiakini reported that UMNO Deputy President Najib Tun Razak used pantun to tell Dr M to stop his attacks on the current PM. While this is not the first time that pantun is used at the UMNO General Assembly, I can't recall any other high-ranking UMNO leaders using the pantun since Anwar Ibrahim.

Najib Tun Razak's pantun did not adhere strictly to the principles of pantun making. I mean, where's the thematic separation between pembayang and maksud, man? And I'm not exactly thrilled by the content of the pantun either but I guess I won't complain if high-profile usage of pantun such as this helps keep pantun alive and fresh in public consciousness!

Come one, come all - let's make pantun Malaysia's answer to the haiku.

Jeff Ooi and Pantun

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Jeff Ooi is a pantun fan. How totally unpredictable, but how gratifying at the same time. Even more gratifying since he's not even Malay.

Perhaps there is still hope for pantun just yet.

Come one come all - let's make pantun Malaysia's answer to the haiku.

Penyengat I

Di mana tempat mentari jatuh?
Di balik Penyengat, di hujung laut,
Di mana tempat bahasa tumbuh?
Di hujung kalam, di tubir mulut.

Where do the rays of the sun perish?
Behind Penyengat, in the seas westward,
Where would our tongue fruitfully flourish?
At the tip of the pen; in the spoken word.

***

The man was persistent. I tried to fend him off by trying to seem like I knew my way around and that I had done this a thousand times before. Inwardly, I cursed myself for not sticking to my usual practice of trying to blend in with the locals. Wearing a tight T-shirt, a pair of calf-length denim shorts together with leather-looking sandals and wielding a shiny digital camera, I stood out like a sore thumb in a crowd of school children, fishermen and village housewives coming back from their weekly grocery shopping. I might as well have carried a gigantic placard saying “I am a tourist. Please come and rip me off.”

Manis.Sweet

Buah mengkudu kusangka manggis,
Manggis terletak di dalam cawan,
Gula madu kusangka manis,
Manis lagi senyummu tuan.

A bitter lemon I took for a berry,
A berry picked from a garden here,
Sweet I thought were sugar and honey,
But none so sweet as your smile, my dear.

And yes, it is because I'm not Italian that I can like Eros Ramazzotti's songs without losing much street cred. Bah!

Where are you?

Hilir sudah mudik pun sudah,
Rumput seberang habis disikat,
Bergolok sudah bergadai pun sudah,
Yang dicari juga belum mendapat!

Di manakah kau?

Wear Anklets, Be Different

Semua orang bergelang tangan,
Saya seorang bergelang kaki,
Semua orang berkata jangan,
Saya seorang menurut hati.

Bracelets are worn by all and sundry,
With my anklets, though, I would not part,
Many - oh many - have sought to stop me,
Though all alone, I followed my heart.

Henri Fauconnier once wrote of a certain kind of regret that does not forgive and would never let us go;  the regret over all the things that we could have done but didn't do.

Think, but not too much. Act. Do. Be true to yourself. Wear anklets if you want to. Be different. Live life.

Never mind them with their boring bracelets and stale admonitions.

Tembikai

Buah tembikai masak tak manis,
Masak sebiji isinya merah,
Cakapan bagai embun ditapis,
Badan dan nyawa rasa terserah.

Ripe, sweet melons I could not find,
For a juicy red melon I pine and ache,
Thy words are as dew, refined,
My body and soul are thine to take.

Pantun Memories

Inspired by Azuradec's Illustration Friday, I have decided to make my hitherto haphazard and whimsical pantun composition and appreciation a more regular affair. Why? Well, you know. Practice makes perfect and all that.

A Conversation on the Malay Pantun

A: Hello!
B: Hello.

A: So tell me, what is this pantun thing, anyway?
B: The pantun is an oral literary form of expression traditionally used among the Malays. The origins of the pantun are lost in the misty early history of the Malay-speaking people, but the pantun had already been perfected to its current form by the 15th century at the latest, as is attested by Malay manuscripts speaking of events occurring during this period.

A: Now, don't avoid the question. What exactly is a pantun? Aren’t you supposed to know?
B: Oh, yes. In its most basic form the pantun consists of even-numbered lines based on an abab rhyming scheme, with the shortest pantun consisting of two lines better known as the pantun dua kerat in Malay, while the longest pantun, the pantun enam belas kerat have 16 lines. A pantun is traditionally recited according to a fixed rhythym and as a rule of thumb, in order not to deviate from the rhythym, every line should contain between eight and 12 syllables...