Animega Prumiru / The First Megafauna
Poesia na Kristang, with an English translation
Peu, kung rabu, andah bai seu;
yo impeh na basu di lumiansa, ta kuniseh kung
nada seng rezang, nada seng stori ki podih koreh kung kodrah di tona,
kaminyu podih trabesah na barku di iredi tamanyu.
Andah kung impoku erodi na bolsu, strelabelaneru;
isti ngua gayola ki ati agora nggeng ja fuzih
seng akeli alma ja prendeh angkrah korpu
na argila sa floris-floris sa bodru,
rua sigredu sempri ta konstrah na kosta di semesta.
Keng mas ta sperah kung bos na mundu sa paredi,
na lugah-lugah ja skiseh undi bos sa dizaboh
ja dah olotu sa futura akeli bostada fatal?
Ki mas bos ta sperah di olu,
ubida,
linggu,
naris?
Ki mas
bos sa
peli
desah
sintih?
Kauzu
tantu
jenti
lembrah
ki na
basu di
albi di
bida,
tudu
korpu
soneh;
tudu
mulera
keninu.
Omimerliang
di Tera Singapura:
justu ngua jenti chuma bos
podih abrih porta di kabesa nali podih largah
kada altura kung banda di rikeza ta bibeh seng fing.
Feet and tail walk toward heaven;
I stand at the foot of remembrance, recognising
nothing without reason, nothing without story that can be cored and awakened anew
a pathway one can traverse on the ship of enormous self-regard.
Walk with a little jealousy in your pocket, archeoastronomer;
this is a cage that until now no one has escaped
except those souls that learn to anchor their bodies
in the clay of the borders of flowers,
secret roads always being built on the backs of the universe.
Who else is waiting for your at the world’s walls,
in the forgotten places where your ancestors
gave so much of their future a fatal blow?
What more are you expecting of eyes,
ears,
tongue,
nose?
What more
of your
skin
must be
felt?
For
so many
people
think
that at
the base
of the
tree of
life
all
bodies
are tiny;
all
minds
are small.
Merlionsman
of the Republic of Singapore:
only just a person such as yourself
could open the door of the head where one can release
every direction and place of riches that lives without end.