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Poems on the MRT

Warkah Untuk Seorang Isteri (Buat Su) / Letter To My Wife (For Su) by Yatiman Yusof

 

Warkah Untuk Seorang Isteri (Buat Su)
Yatiman Yusof

kita bertemu
ketika langit segalanya kelabu
lautan tidak berombak
mentari tegak tidak bergerak
pawana berhenti mendesir
pohonan menjadi pasir

kita bertemu
ketika aku berlari
membawa hati dipacaki belati
dunia kubiar tanpa peduli

kita bertemu
di simpang nasib
aku tidak malu
mendedah duri di perutku
membiar api membakar dadaku
lalu kita duduk di bangku
yang kaupanggil rawan

di situ kita satukan
durimu duriku
apiku apimu
deritamu laraku
lalu kita akhiri dengan ikrar
hidupmu hidupku
di lorong yang satu

tidak sekali kuduga
masa bisa mengganti masa
kesetiaan boleh berbunga
moga akan ada kudup cinta
lalu bersamanya kita berjalan
memikul satu harapan

Jalan Pasar Baru
Oktober 1970


Letter To My Wife (For Su)
Written by Yatiman Yusof
Translated by Dr Zakaria Ali

We met
when the skies were gray,
the sea without waves
the vertical sun motionless
the winds ceased to murmur
the trees turned to sand.

We met
when I was running.
Bringing a heart, pierced,
I let the world pass, paying it no mind.

We met
at the crossroads of fate.
I wasn't ashamed
to expose the thorn in my stomach,
to let the fire burn in me.
Then we sat on the bench
you recalled as maudlin.

There we paired,
your thorn and mine,
your fire and mine,
my pain your grief.
So we tied with a pledge:
that your life and mine
are on one single path.

Never did I expect
that time would recur.
Loyalty bloomed
may there be buds of love.
Together we walked
carrying the gravity of hope.

Jalan Pasar Baru
October 1970

Published in A Trail of Sparks: Percikan Kembara (2024)

Credit: Berita Harian

Mr Yatiman bin Yusof was born on 22 September 1946 in Malaysia. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Arts & Social Sciences) from the University of Singapore in 1972. Mr Yatiman began his career as a teacher in 1965. He became a journalist from 1978 to 1984 and took on the role of Advertising Manager of Berita Harian and Berita Minggu from 1984 to 1986. Mr Yatiman served as a Member of Parliament from 1984 to 2006. He was appointed Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1986 to 1992 and Senior Parliamentary Secretary till 1996. From 1997 to 2006, he was the Senior Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Information, Communications And The Arts.

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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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