Pra Vinodhan Kumaran
Sigih bos sa mai sa konta,
bos sa korsang ja parah,
ngua dia na kampu
kora bos ta bringkah soccer kung bos sa kambradu.
Yo, na akeli tempu,
inda studanti di unibersidadi;
pun inda bos sa mestri di Inggres,
pun inda bos sa studanti sigredu di
klai bibeh.
Bibeh dispois kereh matah onsong.
Bibeh dispois tudu angkoza mal.
Bibeh, Mr K.
Bida teng durasang.
Jenti teng korsang duru.
Mistih bibeh, Mr K.
Ja, Vinod.
Dispois bos kung tudu bos ja insinyah kung yo,
Ja prubah bibeh.
Ja prubah klai bibeh altu.
Ja prubah klai andah chuma sol ta sai di yo sa olu.
Ja prubah kauzu
bos, kung yo, kung tudu 1/1, tudu 1/2 –
tudu teng onsong sa durasang,
onsong sa balor.
Balor di ngua korsang ja tokah parah –
klai midih?
Kung tudu ja ntarah na rentu eli sa chang:
osu, kung suminti, kung stori
di tempu menus armadu.
Kung lembransa.
Kung floris onsong kung cherozu.
Kung forsa midu kung animu
nteh parasang.
Jenti ta les, isti podih fikah bos sa intrudusang.
Chuma yo, na akeli tempu,
anumbes isti tempu pra bos juntah kung nus dos-dos,
bibeh altu,
bibeh komesu, kaminyu kung fing.
For Vinodhan Kumaran
According to your mother,
your heart stopped,
one day on the field
when you were playing soccer with your friends.
I, at that time,
was still a student in university;
and I was still, too, your English teacher
and still, too, secretly your student
learning how to live.
How to live after suicide.
How to live after so much evil.
Live, Mr K.
Life has a time.
People have no time in their hearts.
You must live, Mr K.
I have, Vinod.
I have tried.
After you and all you taught me,
I have tried to live high.
I have tried to live like the sun itself shines from my eyes.
I have tried
because you, and I, and all of 1/1, and all of 1/2,
we all have our own time,
our own value.
How does one measure
the value of a heart that has stopped?
With everything planted in the earth of one’s heart:
Bones, and seeds, and stories
of times less threatening.
With flowers, lonely and fragrant.
With strength, terrified and brave
without conclusion.
Reader, this can be your introduction.
Like me, in that time,
maybe this time you can join us,
and live high:
beginning, journey and end.