The Rustle of the Ulla Grass
By M Adil, 1935
Ulla grass, I often listen to your whistling rustle,
If the soft wind swirls around you;
Your heads lowered as if in homage,
You bow singing of grief which cuts the heart;
While shivering grips your long stems
Straight and bowed declaring your praise –
Completely pervading my conscience,
Because your song makes an agreement with my sorrow.
In the shade I often lazing sit
Gazing at the waves which gently undulate,
Escorting the song of your sighing siren leaves
Serene, at peace, unperturbed
I recede me into a wave of ecstasy
Into your oneness mystic soaring oblivious to time,
Caught in the stream as if in a dream,
Prostrate to intercede for God’s mercy divine.
Desau Pimping, From Panji Pusaka via Pujangga Baru II/9, March 1935. Republished in Jassin, H. B. Pujangga baru : prosa dan puisi / dikumpulkan dengan disertai kata pengantar oleh H.B. Jassin [Pujangga Baru : prose and poetry / collected and accompanied by an introduction by H.B. Jassin] Haji Masagung Jakarta 1987, p. 34.
For Wikipedia background on Pujangga Baru click here.
Image credits: Themeda gigantea (Cav.) Hackel ex Duthie [as Anthistiria gigantea Cav.] Cavanilles, A.J., Icones et descriptiones plantarum, vol. 5: t. 458 (1799) [A.J. Cavanilles] Drawing: A.J. Cavanilles http://plantillustrations.org/illustration.php?id_illustration=240997; Bromo Midnight Tour and Travel; Savanna Valley, Whispering Desert Mount Bromo