Mythology | Mitologi

By and | 4 November 2012
Mythology


As a child he like looking at himself in the mirror in his mother’s room.

“That’s you,” his mother said as she released a bird inside him. The bird

was beautiful, with clear pupils and a rose colored beak. “It will be your

friend even when I’m not here.”


As a teenager, his mother moved the mirror into his room. Each time he

looked at himself, the bird cooed and circled above his head. What was

it saying? What did it want? When he wasn’t there, her was sure the

bird suffered and felt lonely.


As an adult, maybe because he was constantly busy with work, he rarely

looked at the mirror. And the bird, maybe because he often gave it no

mind, rarely showed itself to him. For years, for tens of years, they

seemed no longer to be part of each other. But then one day, after he’d

reached middle age, he saw it again: an ugly disheveled thing, much like

the gloom that had taken hold of his life. Was that really it?


Now, as an elderly man, in front of the mirror, he bitterly longs for it.

But the bird, that bird, never actually existed.




Mitologi


Saat kanak-kanak, ia gemar melihat dirinya dalam cermin

di kamar Ibu. “Itulah kamu,” kata si Ibu seraya melepaskan seekor

burung ke dalamnya. Burung itu cantik, pupilnya terang, paruhnya

merah muda. “Sebagai teman, tentu, bila Ibu tak ada.”


Saat ia mulai remaja, cermin itu dipindahkan Ibu

ke kamarnya. Setiap ia berkaca, burung itu berkicau berputar

putar di atas kepala. Apakah yang dikatakannya? Adakah

yang diinginkannya? Bila dirinya tak ada, ia merasa

burung itu kesepian; dan tentu menderita.


Saat dewasa, sebab entah sibuk bekerja, ia mulai

jarang berkaca. Burung itu, entah memang karena ia lupa,

jarang pula tampak olehnya. Bertahun-tahun,

berpuluh-puluh tahun, mereka bagai bukan bagian

dari bersama. Tapi suatu ketika, dalam usia separo baya, ia

melihatnya. Burung jelek, kusam, tak ubahnya kelebat muram

dalam hidupnya. Betulkah itu dia?


Kini ia telah tua. Di depan cermin, pedih,

ia sering merindukannya. Burung itu—burung itu,

memang, sebenarnya tak pernah ada.


Payakumbuh, 1997




English translation by John H. McGlynn
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Gus tf (originally Gustrafizal Busra) was born in Payakumbuh, West Sumatera on 13 August 1965. He has been writing actively since he was young. At the age of 13 he won a short story context and went on to win more than 30 other writing contests. In 1985, this graduate from the Department of Agriculture at Andalas University, Padang decided to make his living from writing. Since then he has used two names: Gus tf when writing poetry and Gus tf Sakai when writing prose. His collection of short stories, Kemilau Cahaya dan Perempuan Buta, published under the title The Barber and Other Short Stories in English, won the Lontar Literary Award in 2001, the National Language Center’s award for literature in 200, and the SEA Write Award from the kingdom of Thailand in 2004. His poem, ‘Susi 2000 M’, received the Sih Award prize from Jurnal Puisi. His collection of short stories, Perantau (Traveler, 2007) won the Khatulistiwa Literary Award (KLA) 2007. He received the Anugerah Sastra award from the Literature Faculty at Universitas Andalas (2002) and the Anugerah Seni award from West Sumatra Arts Council (2004). Several of his poems have been translated into Arabic, English, and German.
Nama aslinya Gustrafizal Busra, lahir di Payakumbuh, Sumatera Barat, 13 Agustus 1965. Telah aktif berkarya sejak belia. Pada usia 13 tahun ia menjuarai lomba penulisan cerpen dan kemudian ia menjuarai lebih dari 36 lomba lainnya. Tahun 1985, lulusan Fakultas Peternakan Universitas Andalas, Padang (1994) ini memutuskan untuk hidup dari menulis. Sejak itu pula ia menggunakan dua nama: Gus tf jika ia menulis puisi, dan Gus tf Sakai kalau ia menulis prosa. Kumpulan cerpennya, Kemilau Cahaya dan Perempuan Buta memenangi Lontar Literary Award 2001, Penulisan Karya Sastra dari Pusat Bahasa (2002), dan SEA Write Award dari Kerajaan Thailand (2004). Buku tersebut diterjemahkan ke dalam bahasa Inggris dan diterbitkan oleh Yayasan Lontar dengan judul The Barber and Other Short Stories. Puisinya, ‘Susi 2000 M’ mendapat hadiah Sih Award dari Jurnal Puisi. Kumpulan cerpennya, Perantau (2007) meraih Khatulistiwa Literary Award (KLA) 2007. Ia mendapat Anugerah Sastra dari Fakultas Sastra Universitas Andalas (2002) dan Anugerah Seni dari Komunitas Penggiat Sastra Padang dan Dewan Kesenian Sumatera Barat (2004). Beberapa puisinya telah diterjemahkan ke dalam bahasa Arab, Inggris, dan Jerman.

More by Gus tf on Cordite Poetry Review →
John H. McGlynn, a graduate of the University of Michigan Ann Arbor (1981), lives in Jakarta where, in 1987, he established the Lontar Foundation, the only organization in the world devoted to the publication of Indonesian literature in translation. Through Lontar, he has overseen the publication of more than one hundred books on Indonesian literature and culture. Also through Lontar, he has produced twenty-four films on Indonesian writers and more than thirty films on Indonesian performance traditions. John is the Indonesian country editor for Manoa, a literary journal published by the University of Hawaii and for Words Without Borders, a virtual literary journal. He is a member of the International Commission of the Indonesian Publishers Association (IKAPI), PEN International-New York and the Association of Asian Studies. He is also a trustee of AMINEF, the American Indonesian Exchange Foundation, which oversees the Fulbright and Humphrey scholarship programs in Indonesia.

http://www.lontar.org/

More by John H. McGlynn on Cordite Poetry Review →

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