In Alien Land
by Joke Moeljono
The heart is almost lost in anguish and despair;
if I could hold it in my hands,
I’d fasten it in bonds
or squeeze it flat: a bloody catch.
if I could hold it in my hands,
I’d fasten it in bonds
or squeeze it flat: a bloody catch.
What lasts the longest says the Book of Books?
But now I’d rather have the courage to endure
the plaguing of the blood
until it danced itself to death.
But now I’d rather have the courage to endure
the plaguing of the blood
until it danced itself to death.
One day I shall abandon Europe —
her anxieties aren’t mine;
but I shall never hate her,
her anxieties aren’t mine;
but I shall never hate her,
for I’ve been liberated through her sorrows,
and found again lost homesickness
out of her wounds.
and found again lost homesickness
out of her wounds.
Translated by James S. Holmes