Biography: Ewith Bahar
Ewith Bahar is a published author, poetess, novelist, translator and essayist from Indonesia. She had a long time career in a mass communication field (radio and television industry). Prior to joining RCTI (The biggest private TV station in Indonesia) in 2004, she was a host for several musical and cultural programs for TVRI (Indonesian government TV station).
She has published nine books, in all genres: poetry, novel, short stories, and essays. Another three books are still in an on-going process. Her poems were published in many national newspapers, journals and online medias, home and abroad. And also can be found in approximately 60 poetry anthologies in Indonesia and in many international anthologies. She herself organized Indonesian poets to organize Indonesian poets to publish their works into ten poetry anthologies since 2014. Many of her poems have been translated into several foreign languages. One of her poetry books, Sonata Borobudur, got a prestigious prize from Indonesian National Library as The Best Five Indonesian Poetry Books 2019.
Besides writing career, she was also a teacher at communication institutions, Interstudi and LEPPKINDO. Several years ago she run a public speaking course for children and teens, coordinated by
1.
DUA JIWA KASMARAN
Mataku adalah matamu
Sama-sama memandang saat biru cerulean di langit
Perlahan menggelap
Bayangan hitam
menguatkan pesona misterius
ketika gaun satin ratu malam luruh dengan anggun
menyelimuti dirimu dan aku
kelam….oh sangat kelam
“Serupa matamu,” katamu
Di bawah langit berwarna eboni
Alam melukis siluet kita
Sebagai dua jiwa yang menyatu
Tanganku pada dadamu
Berkilau oleh cahya bulan
Lagu indah dari detak jantungmu
Mengelus lembut jemariku
Suara batin di kedalaman
Melodi hati bahagia yang bernyanyi dalam diam
Laksana puisi suci
Alangkah dahsyatnya malam dan
sentuhan serta danau tenang di matamu
menenangkan, membebaskan, menguatkan
Sewaktu langit yang bagai porselen menjadi gelap
Dua jiwa pun kepayang.
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1.
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 by 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.
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2.
BAGAI BUNGA ALYSSUM
Musim semi datang dan pergi
Tapi cinta senantiasa ada
Selalu lahir lagi tiap malam tiap pagi
Memukau laksana komposisi serenada
Saat musim semi singgah
Cahaya memendar
Mengirimkan keriangan jingganya
Bersama filosofi baru
Musim yang indah terperangkap di sela rerambut hitamku
Di patio-patio yang nyaman berhiaskan ros merah muda
Dan tentu, juga pada sepasang bibir yang saling taut
Mimpi-mimpi asing tanpa sayap dalam tidur kita
Terbunuh setiap kali kita membuka mata
menyisakan benih-benih hijau realita
yang akan tumbuh di musim apa saja
bagai bunga alyssum
musim semi, memperindah hal-hal yang biasa
tapi hidup akan sampai pada titik akhir
Dan cinta menyusulnya dengan wangi keabadian.
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2.
LIKE SWEET ALYSSUM
Spring days come, spring days go
But love like life, stays
Reborn every morning 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.
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3.
PEREMPUAN
Perempuan adalah sebuah penjara
Di mana kemerdekaan yang lelaki cari-cari
Bermukim di dalamnya
Lekuk-lekuk tubuhnya adalah ruang-ruang paling aman,
tempat lelaki menyembunyikan segala kemuramannya
dia…
dosa yang tak terhindarkan
sekaligus dunia yang tak tergantikan
Pada seorang perempuan
Lelaki menemukan lilin-lilin kecil ,
cahaya bagi keputusasaannya
hatinya..
adalah jurang tanpa dasar
dan misteri merah yang sukar diterka
hanya ketika engkau menyelam ke dalam dua kristal matanya
kau bisa membaca pikirannya yang liris
dan mengungkap seluruh rahasianya
tujukan perahumu kepadanya
untuk perjalanan tanpa akhir.
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3.
WOMAN
Woman is a jail where
The freedom a man seek resides there
Her curves are the safest room
In which a man hiding all their gloom
Her….
Is his unavoidable sin but irreplaceable world
In woman…
Man find tiny candles to light his despondency
Her heart….
A bottomless abyss
And a red puzzling mystery
Only when you dive into the two crystals of her eyes
You can read her lyrical mind
And disclose all her secrets
Put your canoe in them for an endless journey.
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4.
HINGGA SUATU HARI
Hingga suatu hari
saat cahaya kekal menyelimuti
menjelang keberangkatanku ke keabadian
mengawali kehidupan akhirat tanpa hasrat
tak ditemui lagi nafsu-nafsu mesum
tak ada lagi kegelapan….kesuraman, yang ada hanya cahaya surgawi
menghela pada suatu kepastian yang bumi tak pernah sanggup beri
pada tempat tanpa nama ini, tak ada masa silam yang bisa diingat
tak ada kenangan yang bisa ditelusuri
Aku bagai kehilangan logika
Sebab keabadian ini ada tanpa awal dan tanpa akhir
Satu-satunya yang kukenali
hanya langit-langit maha luas yang kusebut angkasa paling murni
yang dari sini kepada tempat jauh di bawah kakiku,
kuucap selamat tinggal.
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4.
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.
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5.
CINTA ADALAH…
Love is a home for romantic souls with a vow
that the walls are threatened to be ruined each time
and we collect every broken pieces to build the stronger ones
love is a celestial music sweetly played in tune
with you and me as black and white keys to make divine sound
reviving the somber atmosphere
and love, a face inhabiting two eyes with rose-tinted tears
often streaming and falling secretly
from the deep crevice, drifting away the gloomy seasons in our hearts
you and me a pair of yellowy flames
goldening each other.
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5.
LOVE IS….
Cinta adalah rumah bagi jiwa-jiwa romantik yang telah berikrar
Di mana dinding-dindingnya terancam runtuh setiap waktu
Dan kita mesti memunguti setiap puing untuk membangun yang baru
cinta adalah kidung surgawi yang dimainkan begitu indah
di mana engkau dan aku adalah tuts-tuts hitam putih
pencipta bunyi-bunyian sakral
yang menyegarkan suasana muram
dan cinta adalah satu wajah dengan dua mata
yang mengalirkan air berwarna rose
kerap berjatuhan dan mengalir diam-diam
dari ceruk yang dalam, menghanyutkan musim risau di dalam kalbu
Engkau dan aku adalah sepasang api kuning
Yang saling menyepuhkan warna keemasan.
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