A poem of an old man for his wife

 

“A poem of an old man for his wife”

By: W.S. Rendra

I wrote this poem to make you good
Whereas you recalled your gout
Reminiscing again our scintillating adolescence
And also our barely finished future

And happily will we conquer

We are not alone and isolated with our fate
Because the problem is the Law of history life
Bittersweets, acid salts are not divine
Because it has been undergone by everyone

Life is not to lament and groaning
Life is how to make it progressing
Work flipping the ground
Break through the mystery of ocean and heavenward
And to Create and engrave the world
We hold the duty
Because the duty is a duty
Instead of by hell or heaven
But to the glory of man

To be honest, we are not the clay
Despite we have ramshackle, elderly and grey
We are what our personality
Our self-esteem depicts our honorary
Behold, what is behind us! To our past day
No one has the power to sweep it away

Look! How colorful in our past years
Stroked by our breath ninety years
It always rises in ninety years
Surpassing our past helter-skelter years
And remembering it well
How we were always smile
Facing the Heaven and earth, and also our fate

We smile not to play-act
Not because the smile is a mask
But the smile is an act
Our act to God, human beings and folk
The fate and the life

Look! Ninety years were so colorful
Reminiscing that we have declined to be a router
We become unsteady and un-useful
Because seemingly the age is stronger than us, it’s really tougher
But not because we have fell

I wrote this poem to make you good
Whereas you recalled your gout
Reminiscing it as always
We are challenged by one hundred gods



This poem is an adaptation of Rendra's  poem which entitled “Sajak Seorang Tua Untuk Isterinya"
Originally translated by @oldryronald
March 13th, 2014