They say that Diogenes of Sinope, who mocked Alexander of Macedon, shamed Plato and disputed Socrates, had a residence made from an unused wine cask. Moses' was made of a single sheet of cloth propped up by a stick. Jesus Christ didn't even have any. On the other hand Tevye, the protagonist of Fiddler on the Roof, if he had one, would have his built with "one long stair case going up, one even longer going down, and one more leading nowhere just for show". Norma Desmond's on Sunset Boulevard was made of materials that built dreams. India's mukesh Ambani's cost a billion dollars, while Bill Gates had a private ... err... ocean life in his.
And yet ... I can't help but feel that there's something missing in all these designs that these people have. It's easy for ME to say that: how would I have built mine? Well, that would be easier....
Diatas tanah zamrud bertaburan
Kerisik akik kerikil marjan
Kan ku bina mahligai indah idaman
Penghuni bintang menjadikan pedoman
Tangganya puluhan kamarnya beribu
Kehulu kehilir pelayan, pembantu
Bawahnya mengalir mata-air syahdu
Memperingati akan asal-usul ku
Lantainya ku sulam larat berlian
Bumbung menyepoi aroma za'faran
Dibela, dijaga, pembantu, pelayan
Agar mereka kenali siapa Tuan
Kan kubina dalamnya Raudah syorga
Objek cemburu Shaddad perkasa
Di barat di timur bandingan tiada
Idaman hati Raja, Maharaja
Namaku harum sebutan semua
Tuan empunya mahligai perkasa
Nun jauh dari sejuta hasta
Kerlipan emasnya menyakitkan mata
Akan kubina jeriji sakti
Memeluk kamarku setiap perinci
Berantai perak berkunci besi
Menjaga katil empuk tiada terperi
Dari dapur hingga ke anjung
Dari lantai hingga kebumbung
Akan ku kunci akan kupasung
Agar Azrael tidak mengunjung
Leman Pulut
Leman,
ReplyDeleteVery touching poem: it has the melancholy of Rumi, the sophism of Fansuri and the punchiness of Keats.
Influenced by Sophists but shaped by Sufis?
Anon 11:29 --- wrong! Influenced, shaped, and all paid for by the Pandak Ahmad clan.
ReplyDeleteLeman
phew! that's one mean mahligai you are wishing for.. Azrael-proof too... :-))
ReplyDeleteNot Good. Defeatist in approach and general air of hopelessness in sounding. Can you give us some happy poems, Sir?
ReplyDeleteHappy Go Lucky
Kak Kama,
ReplyDeleteRerasa, kalau takleh az-proof kan, wat rugi jer. Diilhamkan dari sebuah mahligai of one Tan Sri Raja something in Seremban who died just after it got completed, with said residence being the object of bickerings and lawsuits of the remaining wive(s). Imagine all those wealth given to anak yatim and the needy who would, until now, berzikir for his wellbeing even as his torso become dessert for the maggots.
Anon 5:57. This is a happy poem lah! About residence made up of gold filings and diamond pebbles. What could be more joyous than that?
Leman
i like it .. very melancholic somehow..
DeleteDear Leman,
ReplyDeleteLove this poem! - such a dreamy and peaceful flow...nevertheless one may have all the wealth in the world but at the end of the day, when we die, we bring nothing but our amal ibadah, sadaqatul jariah serta pahala & kebajikan anak2 soleh... (bila Izrael datang menjemput - it's not Azrael, or did you purposely write in a poetry manner as Azrael instead of Izrael?)
More of this gemersik berlagu poems, please!!:-)
WFH