Anies Septivirawan’s Bilingual Poems (Indonesia – English) – Translated by Leni Marlina: “At the Threshold of Your Lucid Eyes”
English Version
Baca juga: YULIATI: Dari Yuli Koboi, Sang Joki, hingga Bu Nyai
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At the Threshold of Your Lucid Eyes
Poem by Anies Septivirawan
Translated (Indonesia – English) by Leni Marlina
–
At the threshold of Your limpid eyes,
I found a river, running clear.
I stepped inside without a knock,
bearing an ancient longing that settled on Your eyelid, waiting for leave.
The sky has never gathered clouds.
Light trickles down, slowly, like prayer.
Each blink of Yours becomes a bridge, guiding me home.
I ask for so little:
just one honest gaze to cleanse the weariness of the world from my chest.
At the threshold of Your limpid eyes,
I learn what home means: not walls, not an address,
but a place where the heart may stand bare and still be welcomed.
So let me stay a little while upon the threshold of your clarity, waiting for your smile.
And then, at last, grant me leave to enter deeper.
At the threshold of Your limpid eyes,
I entrust all my words to you, for there, no tumult stirs only heartbeats greeting one another.
One blink of Yours, a thousand promises;
one gaze of Yours, a thousand homes, a million meanings.
I long for You, not because you are far,
but because Your nearness feels like coming home.
And homecoming is an addiction my heart has no wish to cure.
Let me sit upon Your eyelid until the world knows I have been chosen to dwell within that clarity.
Your clarity becomes my humility;
we become one.
–
Malang, East Java, Indonesia, Late 2024
——
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Independence Amid a Mountain of Debt
Poem by Anies Septivirawan
Translated (Indonesia – English) by Leni Marlina
–
When our flag rises again this morning,
red is more than blood, white more than a fragment of prayer. Numbers, too, rise with it, fluttering in the wind, their weight heavy on our shoulders.
Independence arrives with fireworks and debt. One explodes across the sky;
the other sits quietly in the ledger.
We celebrate the speeches while counting installments that never seem to end.
Children run across the field, never asking who lent us the money.
Motherland stitches the flag with thread bought from the sweat of her own labor.
Fathers stand upright as the national anthem rises; their voices are beyond the bank’s appraisal.
Freedom, in these times, does not mean living without burdens.
Debt can be recorded, paid in installments, and settled in full.
But a bowed head must never be the price.
–
Situbondo, East Java, Indonesia, 2026
——
About the Poet – Anies Septivirawan
Anies Septivirawan is an admirer of literature, the arts, and culture. His passion for poetry has endured since 1995, shaping a creative journey grounded in reflection and an abiding appreciation for the written word. Born in Dawuhan, Situbondo, East Java, Indonesia, he is a member of the Association of Indonesian Writers, Poets, and Authors (HP3N) in Batu City and SATUPENA East Java. He works as an online media journalist. Beyond its artistic dimensions, poetry offers him a personal space for reflection and an enduring connection with life. He has published three solo poetry collections, and his poems have appeared in numerous collaborative anthologies. His poetry and other writings have also been featured in a volume alongside those of Gol A Gong, a prominent Indonesian writer and literacy advocate. His three solo poetry collections are Luka dan Kota Sepi Literasi (Wounds and a City Bereft of Literary Life), Menimang Rindu Senja Kala (Cradling Longing at Dusk), and Dua Senja Menyulam Damai (Two Dusks Stitching Peace)
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About the Translator – Leni Marlina
Leni Marlina is an Indonesian poet, writer, translator, and lecturer in the English Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, at Universitas Negeri Padang, Indonesia since 2006. Her creative and scholarly work spans poetry, fiction, essays, literary criticism, review, translation, and literacy studies.
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Indonesian Version
Puisi Dwibahasa (Indonesia – Inggris) Karya Anies Septivirawan: “Di Pintu Mata Bening-Mu”
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Di Pintu Mata Bening-Mu
Puisi: Anies Septivirawan
-
Di pintu mata bening-Mu
Kutemukan aliran sungai jernih
Telah kusinggahi tanpa mengetuk
Kubawa rindu yang purba
Duduk di pelupuk, menunggu izin
Langit tidak pernah mendung
Cahya menetes perlahan,
Seperti doa
Setiap kedip-Mu adalah jembatan
menuntunku pulang
Aku tak minta banyak
Cukup satu tatap jujur
Yang membersihkan lelah dunia di dadaku
Di pintu mata bening-Mu
Aku belajar arti rumah
Bukan dinding,
Bukan alamat
Namun tempat bagi hati boleh telanjang
Tetap diterima
Maka biarkan aku tinggal sebentar
Di ambang bening-Mu
Sambil menunggu Engkau tersenyum
Syahdan, ijinkan aku masuk lebih dalam
Di pintu mata bening-Mu
Aku menitipkan semua kata
Sebab di sana tak ada gaduh
Hanya detak saling menyapa
Satu kedip-Mu, seribu janji
Satu tatap-Mu, seribu rumah
Sejuta arti
Aku rindu bukan karena jauh
Tapi karena dekat-Mu terasa seperti pulang
Dan pulang itu candu
Yang tak ingin diobati
Biarkan aku duduk di pelupuk-Mu
Sampai dunia tahu
Aku dipilih tinggal di bening itu
Bening-Mu adalah tawadhu-ku
Menjadi satu
–
Malang, Ujung 2024
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Kemerdekaan di Tengah Tumpukan Hutang
Puisi: Anies Septivirawan
–
Ketika bendera kita naik lagi pagi ini
Merah itu bukan cuma darah,
Putih itu pun bukan cuma sepenggal doa.
Ada juga angka-angka
ikut berkibar,
berat di pundak
kemerdekaan datang
membawa kembang api dan hutang.
Yang satu meledak di langit,
Satu lagi duduk tenang di buku besar.
Kita merayakan pidato,
seraya menghitung cicilan yang tidak pernah usai
Anak-anak di lapangan
Berlari tanpa bertanya siapa meminjamkan
Ibu pertiwi menjahit bendera
dengan benang yang dibeli dari hasil keringat sendiri.
bapak-bapak berdiri tegak saat lagu kebangsaan
suara mereka tidak ditaksir bank.
Merdeka saat ini
bukalah bebas dari beban
Hutang bisa dicatat, bisa dicicil, bisa dilunasi.
Namun kepala ditundukkan, itu tak boleh.
-
Situbondo, Jatim, 2026
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Tentang Penulis – Anies Septivirawan
Anies Septivirawan merupakan seorang penikmat tulisan seni sastra dan budaya. Ia gemar menulis puisi sejak tahun 1995 sampai saat ini. Ia bergabung dengan himpunan penulis penyair dan pengarang nusantara (HP3N) Kota Batu dan SATUPENA Jawa Timur. Anies Lahir di kelurahan Dawuhan, Situbondo, Jawa Timur. Aktivitasnya sehari-hari sebagai wartawan media online. Baginya, menulis upaya mengusir ion -ion negatif di dalam tubuh agar tetap sehat dan panjang umur. Ia sudah menulis 3 buku antologi puisi tunggal dan puisi-puisinya juga menyemarakkan sejumlah buku antologi bersama. Puisinya dan tulisan lainnya juga pernah satu buku dengan Gol A Gong. Buku antologi puisi tunggalnya yang pertama berjudul “Luka dan Kota Sepi Literasi”, yang kedua adalah “Menimang Rindu Senja Kala” dan buku yang ketiga berjudul “Dua Senja Menyulam Damai”
