Semut
Sedikit manisan tertumpah di lantai
Seekor semut pun sampai
Beberapa detik lagi
Bertambah ramai menghampiri
Lama-kelamaan
Beratus-ratus berderetan
Berduyun berbarisan
Aku melihat dan merasa hairan
Tanpa suara dan tanpa kata
semut memanggil kawan-kawan
Bila tercium makanan
Memang telah kupelajari
Haiwan juga berkomunikasi
Sedang aku leka
Terdengar semut berkata
“janganlah lupa semut cuma haiwan
Sekadar tahu menyampai berita
Yang benar sahaja
Tidak secanggih manusia
Kerana manusia adalah makhluk Tuhan
Yang memiliki kepandaian
Untuk mereka-reka cerita
Dan menyebar dusta”
The little Ants
I drop a little honey on the ground
A few ant get around
A few minutes later
More ants gather
And in no time
Hundreds of ants
Are walking in a line
I watch and wondered how
Without voice and without sound
They gather friends
around
Whenever food is found
This fact I have read
That animals communicate
I watched and was carried away
Until I heard what an ant has to say
“Don’t forget we are just animals
We communicate as we pass by
But we cannot tell a lie
We are not sophisticated like men
The only God’s creation
bestowed with the ability
To make up untrue statements
And spread untrue stories”
Pesanan Puteri Gunung Ledang kepada Sultan Mahmud
Tun Mamat
Sampaikan pesanku kepada Sultan
Jika aku ingin diperisterikan
Perbuatkan jambatan emas jambatan perak
Bawakan tujuh dulang hati kuman, hati nyamuk
Air mata dan air pinang muda setempayan
Darah raja dan anak raja semangkuk
Sebenarnya
Aku telah menduga
Dia akan sanggup merentang jambatan derita
Dia merelai negeri menjadi dulang sengsara
Membiarkan rakyat memikul tempayan air mata
Kehidupan terbakar dalam api berahi
Selagi kepanasan tidak terpercik ke tubuhnya
Tun Mamat,
Sebenarnya aku memberi syarat ini
Kerana aku tidak sudi menjadi permaisuri Sultan
Dan hidup bercerminkan kekeruhan
Aku bukan Tun Fatimah
Yang pandai memaafkan kezaliman
Aku bukan Tun Kudu
Yang tahu merelakan paksaan
Cukuplah dengan puteri Hang Li Po
Yang terbungkus menjadi persembahan
Dan tersungkurnya Tun Teja
Ketika menangkap bayang-bayang cinta
Biarlah Gunung Ledang berdiri mengingatkan
Ada
bunga yang tidak dapat digubah
Sesedap titah
Seorang perempuan pun ada kalanya
Berhak memiliki kebebasan
Seorang Sultan pun ada kalanya
Harus tunduk kepada kekalahan
The Message from
Princess of Mount
Ledang to Sultan Mahmud
Tun Mamat
Convey this message to the Sultan
Bring these as my dowry
If he wish to marry me
Build me a bridge of gold and another of silver
Bring me mosquitoes and germs seven trays of their hearts
Vessels full of tears and juice of young beetle nuts
From the king and his prince a bowl each of their blood
Honestly
I knew from the start
That he is willing to construct the bridge of misery
Let the people carry the trays of agony
And bear the burden of heavy vessels of tears
burn their life with flame of his own desire
Provided he could escape the fire
Tun Mamat
These conditions only show my rejection
I refuse to be his queen
Seeing my life a murky reflection
I am not Tun Fatimah
With the skill to forgive cruelty
I am not Tun Kudu
Who could be forced to agree
It’s enough with Hang
Li Po
Wrapped up as a gift, a legacy
Or Tun Teja who trip
and fall
The lover she follow was only a shadow
Let Mount Ledang
stand tall, a reminder to all
Of a flower that survived and remain free
Untouched by the royal fancy
Even a woman can choose to disagree
Even a king has his turn
To admit being beaten
Note: Sultan Mahmud, the last emperor of Melaka fell
in love with Princess of Mount
Ledang who appeared in
his dream. He sent his men up the mountain to ask for her hand in marriage
causing much hardship and unnecessary death. The princess sent her famous and
meaningful message to the Sultan through Tun Mamat , the only man who made it
to the top of the mountain.
