Contemporary World Literature: Poetry from Indonesia
Poems by Ewith Bahar
Ewith Bahar is a poetess from Indonesia and lives in Jakarta. She had a long time career in a mass-communication field, radio and television industry. Being a TV host at Television of Republic of Indonesia (TVRI, a government TV station) for several cultural and musical programs has broadened her vision that helps much in her writing works. One of her poetry books got a prestigious prize from Indonesian National Library as The Best Five Indonesian Poetry Books 2019.
Ewith wrote novel, short stories, essay, and poetry books. Ewith Bahar also loves teaching. She was a teacher at a Communication Institution, Interstudi and LEPPKINDO, and a public speaker for communications matters, creative writing and Bibliotherapy.
Email address: ewith2408@yahoo.com, edbawythona04@gmail.com
SUBLIME TEARS
Your sublime tears
A melodic rain, flows within the ocean of my heart
Watering each and every niche
Watering the barren land of
Misunderstanding and jealousy
Purify the murky waters of emotions
Your sublime tears
A God’s whisper
Pearly drops of divine strength
I’M NO MORE
I’m no more a sea you admire
Embrace and caress your toes with desire
A calm surface under the darkened cloud
Like a silence persists in a crowd
We have our own shadow,
Which endlessly follows
The submissiveness definition
Of infinite affection
I’m no more a sea you adore
With a tainted enthusiasm
I’m now just a silent shore
With mystery within that not pleonasm!
THE DRUNKEN TWO SOULS
My eyes are yours
Watching a deep cerulean
Turns slowly into obsidian
Charcoal shadow
Heightens the mysterious beauty
When a satiny robe of night falls elegantly
Blanketed you and me
Dark…oh so dark, and our love glints
“Just like your eyes,” you said
Under the ebony sky
Nature shapes our silhouettes
As a unity of two souls
My hand lies on your chest
Gleaming in the moonlight
Sweet melody from your heartbeats
Softly caresses my fingers’ skin
A voice within
Is a rhythmic melody of ecstatic feeling in silence
Like sacred poetry
How powerful a night, a touch and a serene lake in your eyes
Releasing, freeing, vitalizing
When the porcelain sky gets darker
The two souls get drunk.
LIKE THE SWEET ALYSSUM
Spring days come, spring days go
But love like life, stays
Reborn every morning and every night
Mesmerizing like serenade composition
As spring approaches,
A light exists
Sending its orange bliss
With brand new philosophies
Sweet season is caught in my black tresses
In cozy patios with rosy roses
And in the balmy two sealed lips
Unwinged and anonymous dreams
Are killed every time the eyes open
Leaving chartreuse seeds of realities
Which will live in all seasons
Like sweet alyssum
Spring days, embellishing the ordinary
But life will come to a standstill
And love follows with a fragrance of eternity
A BIG LOVE THAT YOU CALL HOME
Time flies
Twisting life with laughs and cries
Moves swiftly from traditionalism to modernism
From yesterday to tomorrow
A fluctuation brings the palette of changed colors
Brings the breeze and the storm
And women sweep them gracefully into dance
Within ages, women wear their same faces
Deceptive voices, croaky or melodious
Hidden emotions,
Silent tears or enigmatic smile
They forgive the scars, heal the wounds
And the sharp knives in their drawers
Are the wisdom from hundreds of books they read?
They speak, they write, they initiate, they finalize
They are future that you dream of,
Lungs and hearts your life depends on,
And big love that you call home!
UNTIL SOMEDAY
Until someday
When the eternal light surrounds
And I fade away to a vast eternity
Started a winged life with no desires
No more lusty temptation
No darkness…no gloom but celestial shine
Leading to a certainty that earth could never afford
In this no-name land, no past to be remembered
No memories to be traced
I just lost my logical sense
Because this eternity existed without start and without end
The only thing I recognize
A bizarre ceiling above that I call a purest sky
Which to the land under my legs I wave goodbye
______________
Read History of Indonesian Literature
