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Poems on the MRT

Lebih Baik Sendiri / Better Alone by Sofia Nin

 

Lebih Baik Sendiri
Sofia Nin

Hanya bertemankan malam hening
Perempuan itu duduk tergeletak di atas kursi
Pas di depan kipas angin yang berdesing
Bertanya tanya apakah ini hanya sebuah fiksi?

Selama ini ditulisnya tentang malam
Bagaimana dia bisa mengagumi kelam
Bagaimana dalam kelam, dia bisa
menyanjungi bulan
Dan bagaimana bulan bisa menyinari jalan

Tanpa perlu ada bintang
Tanpa perlu ada yang datang
Tanpa perlu ada yang benderang
Tanpa perlu ada orang . . orang

Cukup dengan dirinya saja dia merasa penuh
Cukup dengan raganya saja yang bisa merasakan jenuh

Karena dia sadar bahwa
Yang datang menjanjikan tangan
Bakal pergi tinggalkan bayangan
Yang datang menjanjikan kata
Bakal pergi pura pura menutup mata

Lalu dia membungkus rapi semua mimpi
Diikat kuat disimpan di kiri lemari
Akankah ada sebuah terapi
Sembari menunggu datangnya besok hari?

Better Alone
Written by Sofia Nin
Translated by Annaliza Bakri

Accompanied by the night’s silence
She sprawls across a settee
Before the fan’s sibilance
Wondering if this: a fantasy?

She had always written of the night
How she declaims the darkening
How in the dark, she lauds the moon
And how the moon illuminates the lane

With no need for the stars
With no need to draw near
With no need for the glare
With no need for one or another

Enough to be herself and feel whole
Enough for this body of hers to feel complete

Because she understands now
He who comes promising his hand
Will leave, a shadow
He who comes promising words
Will leave, feigning blindness

So she wraps up her fantasies
Knots them in the closet on the left
What therapy can tide
Us till tomorrow comes?

Published in Cordite Poetry Review, Emerging Malay Poets: Translations of Zulfadli Rashid, Sofia Nin and Hidayat Nordin by Annaliza Bakri (2023)

Sofia Nin, born in 1990, embarked on her literary journey through writing poetry and anthologies in her personal blog in 2008. Despite lacking formal literary training, she boldly published her first debut poetry collection, Puisi Berantakan / Messy Poetry, during the ASEAN Literary Festival in Jakarta (2014). Influenced by Indonesian literature, Sofia’s writing style beautifully reflects her Javanese-Sundanese heritage. Currently, she juggles dual roles: a full-time policymaker in the tech industry and an active poet in the archipelago’s literary scene, where she passionately engages in performance poetry to fuel her creative expressions.

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Poems on the MRT is an initiative by the National Arts Council, in partnership with SMRT and Stellar Ace. Produced by Sing Lit Station, a local literary non-profit organisation, this collaboration displays excerpts of Singapore poetry throughout SMRT’s train network, integrating local literature into the daily experience of commuters. Look out for poems in English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil in trains on the East-West, North-South and Circle Lines, as well as videos created by local artists and featuring local poets in stations and on trains. The Chinese, Malay, and Tamil poems are available in both the original languages and English. To enjoy the full poems, commuters may read them on go.gov.sg/potm.

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