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Syair Pembunuhan Ratna Angreni
The Tragedy Of Ratna Angreni
They reached the sweeping shores
The neverending roars of ocean encores
The almost carved beauty of rocked pebbled glory
Stretches of ivory sand embrace the end of this story.
A scatter of trees of assorted beauty
Vary and accompany in merry gaiety
A patchwork of blossoms untouched and whole
Where Raden Kartabangsa pauses to stroll.
Further on they encounter a boulder
Smooth, flat, a slate, a strong shoulder
A royal seat, at its ragged best
And Raden Perbangsa announces his rest
She is left to move on, without a sound
till motion ceased - and her feet stepped from carriage
to ground
She swings her legs from a roughly curved cliff
Mixed emotions arisen - many a wary suspicion adrift.
Slowly she speaks, sweet Ratna Angreni
Dear brother, please pray tell where are we
She points out the time - it's almost noon
That they're expected at Raden Menteri's soon.
Have we ever been late when expected?
And such patience you show, so rarely detected
She clenches her cape with worry in the undergrowth
Messy jungles ominously wrap around them both
His face and silent self does not betray his real emotions
Shaken and stirred, in mute frenzied commotion
His Highness Sang Nata, says he (holding back a sob)
Announced that this
Will be your last stop.
author unmentioned, poem published in Permatang Budi, 1991
and the Anak Laut anthology
---
(The Original Poem)
Setelah sampai ke tepi pantai
Pasirnya putih sangat permai
Batunya indah bagi dicanai
Ombak memecah di tepi pantai.
Ada sepohon bunga cina,
Cempaka berapit dengan angsana
Kuntum indah serba warna
Berhentilah Raden Kartabangsa.
Ada suatu batu yang rata,
Terhampar rupa seperti geta,
Raden Perbangsa segera berkata
Di sinilah adinda berhenti kita.
Angreni turun dari juli
Melungguh di batu berjuntai kaki
Rasa hati sangatlah sali
Pada perasaan salah sekali
Perlahan bermadah Ratna Angreni
Tuanku mengapa kita ke mari
Kerana waktu sudah tengah hari
Di manakah tempat Raden Menteri
Dahulu tuanku sanggup menghantar
Kepada adinda muda yang sabar
Sekarang mengapa dalam belukar
Raden menyahut rasanya sukar
Hatinya sangat belas kasihan
Di sinilah tempat perhentian
Sang Nata menyuruh kepada tuan
Membawa tuan ke dalam hutan.
Serta Angreni mendengar kata
Ia pun menangis menumbuk dada
Jikalau demikian kehendak Sang Nata
Redalah mati kakang nan beta.
---
I actually don't care much for Malaysian poetry. It's phonically nice to
read out, and for the language it's soothing to the ear when executed properly, but
to me most of the poetry is lacklustre in meaning. I find myself translating the poems in
the anthology assigned to us in Malay literature class out of boredom and lack of
attention to the teacher. I don't take the act of this too seriously, but to my knowledge
the translations are accurate and I do put them up when I'm done.
This was such a bitch to rhyme! The original poem rhymed, so I felt kind of obligated (and
the entire mood in the air that day drove me to go to such extremes to banish boredom) to
do so. Hmm. What can I explain here confidently? I can confidently say that Ratna and
Raden are both ranks in society. I'm guessing Raden is for the men and Ratna are for the
women. I believe this is part of a big story and they excerpted this for the anthology in
my syllabus. There was an extra paragraph in the original version that I didn't translate
to achieve the desired feel in the ending of the English version (if I were to translate
the last paragraph into English the little dum-dum-dum
effect would vanish). It basically talks about Ratna's weak acceptance to the hush-hush
death penalty. So no, you didn't miss much.