"Dari manakah gerangan aku datang? Dimanakah
engkau menjemputku?" Bertanya bayi kepada ibu.
Si ibu lalu menjawab, setengah menangis ia,
separo tertawa ia, mendekap bayi ke dadanya,
-- "Engkau bersembunyi di hatiku sebagai
keinginanku, hasrat terkuatku, kekasihku.
Engkau ada dalam boneka masa kanakku;
dan dengan tanah liat kubentuk imaji Tuhan,
setiap pagi, kubuat juga engkau, Anakku.
Engkau abadi bersama dewa di rumah kita,
dalam setiap doanya, kudoakan juga engkau.
Dalam setiap harap dalam setiap cinta, dalam
hidupku, dalam hidup ibuku, engkau telah hidup.
Dalam pangkuan jiwa yang pernah mati, yang
hidup di rumah kita, engkau bertahun diasuh.
Dan di masa gadisku, hatiku membuka kelopaknya,
engkau adalah aroma wangi menyemerbak disana.
Kelembutanmu bunga mekar di tangkai mudaku,
seperti penda di langit sebelum matahari bangkit.
Surga yang pertama, Sayangku, lahir kembar
bersama cahaya pagi, engkau mengapung dalam
arus hidup dunia, akhirnya terdampar di hatiku.
Ketika kupandang wajahmu, misteri mengepungku;
engkau milik dunia, kini menjadi milikku sepenuhnya.
Karena takut kehilanganmu, kudekap kau erat di dada.
Keajaiban apa ini? Pusaka dunia apa ini? Terperangkap
di dalam dua dekap, tanganku yang lemah ramping?" --
* Syair ke-7 The Crescent Moon
----
----
THE BEGINNING
"Where have I come from, where did you pick me up?" the baby
asked its mother.
She answered half crying, half laughing, and clasping the baby to
her breast,-- "You were hidden in my heart as its desire, my
darling.
You were in the dolls of my childhood's games; and when with clay
I made the image of my god every morning, I made and unmade you
then.
You were enshrined with our household deity, in his worship I
worshipped you.
In all my hopes and my loves, in my life, in the life of my
mother you have lived.
In the lap of the deathless Spirit who rules our home you have
been nursed for ages.
When in girlhood my heart was opening its petals, you hovered as
a fragrance about it.
Your tender softness bloomed in my youthful limbs, like a glow in
the sky before the sunrise.
Heaven's first darling, twin-born with the morning light, you
have floated down the stream of the world's life, and at last you
have stranded on my heart.
As I gaze on your face, mystery overwhelms me; you who belong to
all have become mine.
For fear of losing you I hold you tight to my breast. What magic
has snared the world's treasure in these slender arms of mine?"
