Six Poems

Henny Herawati, Indonesia

henny.herawati@gmail.com

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Silence
My tea reverie
The dust-laden box
Prayer: after Merapi
You and I
Mesmerized

Silence

Some say silence is golden;
Some say plain yellow.
But often it is just deep-sea-blue
like water with its quiet hue.

And in some weather,
its placid surface wears ripples
until whispers
turn ripples to tides.

When sealed lips
cannot mend a friendship broken
or a marriage frozen
golden silence turns to shadow.

[April 2013]

My tea reverie

When I brew my tea
it is you that I see
through the loose leaves floating
as I sit waiting.

Hours away is your city from mine
but in the city of my tea reverie
you’re here with me.

[June 2012]

The dust-laden box

You complain about the two dust-laden
tea cups in our kitchen,
from which we used to sip our early morning tea.

Then you complain about the dust-laden
bench on our back garden,
where we used to breathe our late afternoon breeze.

Here, I keep our morning tea and afternoon breeze
in this dust-laden box,
as silence gently fades our fantasy.

[May 2013]

Prayer: after Merapi

Pour down your rain
your caring rain
onto the gray land and dusty leaf;
onto the weary faces in grief;
and let bloom a thousand flowers.

[2010]

Note:
Merapi is a volcano in Yogyakarta. This poem was written after its eruption in 2010.

You and I

You and I, nduk,
are like day and night; like
the sun and the moon; like
your curly hair and my straight one,
with your risk-taking nature
and my too-cautious character.

But you and I, nduk,
are paper boats.
Frail yet infrangible,
tender but tough.
And we have one thing in common:
We have made friends with the wind,
and we refuse to sink.

[2014]

Note:
Nduk is a Javanese word means daughter

Mesmerized

Mesmerized I am
by the trees knitting
strands of diverse leaf fibers, turning
into a shawl drooping-
heavenly hued.

Witnessing differences
with heart like the wind and the morning dew
mesmerized am I with their stunning strands of hues.

[2013]