ZURINAH HASSAN IALAH SASTERAWAN NEGARA MALAYSIA

Monday, May 17, 2010

MASIHKAH KAU BERMAIN SERULING/Are you still playing your flute

Sajak ini menggunakan gaya percakapan penyair dengan seseorang. Orang yang dimaksudkan di sini ialah seorang yang pandai bermain seruling. Sekali pandang ia seperti sajak percintaan kerana banyak menggunakan perkataan yang lembut dan romantis.
Are you still playing your flute
Are you still playing your flute
when there is no time for our love
I am feeling guilty
to be longing for your song


Tetapi percakapan yang lembut dan romantis dengan pemain seruling itu hanyalah satu cara atau gaya penyair meluahkan segala yang mengganggu fikirannya. Sajak ini bertemakan kemasyarakatan . Keseluruhannya merupakan luahan rasa penyair tentang keadaan masyarakat di negaranya dan antara bangsa yang penuh kemelut dan kacau bilau.
Penyair mengenang sang pemain seruling. Sebenarnya yang dikenang oleh penyair ialah kampong yang sedang tenat.
Are you still playing your flute
in the village so quiet and deserted
amidst the sick rice field

Dia menceritakan tentang keadaan dirinya yang berada di kota…kota yang sakit sedangkan kampong sudah sunyi kerana ditinggalkan oleh anak-anak muda. Apakah pemain seruling itu masih ada di kampong bermain serulingnya? . Ini juga bermaksud adakah sang pemain seruling masih mempertahankan seni dan tradisinya.

Alat musik seruling dipilih kerana inilah alat muzik yang paling dekat dengan alam. Cuma sebatang buluh dan tidak memerlukan teknologi canggih untuk menciptanya. Jadi semuanya balik kpd alam. Balik kepada keaslian.
the melody concealed in the slim hollow of the bamboo
uncovered by the breath of an artist
composed by his lips
arranged by his fingers
blown by the wind
to the depth of my heart

Penyair merasa bersalah untuk melayan rasa rindu kepada pemain seruling itu. Begitulah rasa bersalahnya dia memikirkan sesuatu yang indah seperti seni . Di kota dia sepatutnya sibuk kerana di situ kehidupan berlalu dengan pantas.
while here it has become a luxury
to spend time watching the rain
gazing at the evening rays
collecting dew drops
or sniffing scented flowers.

Seolah-olah dia memberikan masanya kepada perkara-perkara yang remeh sedangkan kehidupan sedang dilanda oleh masalah yang sangat besar. Masalah-masalah ini dipaparkan dalam bait seterusnya. Pada masa itu ramai yang menganggur. Orang-orang kita berpecah belah kerana politik . Dan di merata dunia spt Bosnia dan Palestin, orang Islam sedang diburu oleh bom-bom ganas.

in the hazard of this city
my younger brothers unemployed and desperate
my people thorn by politic
my Muslim friends slaughtered mercilessly
this world is old and badly injured.

Is this the end of our love?
time is forcing us as artists
not to be ourselves.
Ini bukan masa untuk memberi perhatian kepada seni. Ini adalah masa untuk bekerja keras. Apabila seniman tidak dapat melayani kecintaannya kepada seni maka itu seperti mereka dituntut untuk tidak menjadi seniman lagi

15 comments:

  1. Teringat kenangan main seruling batang padi. Kini dah tiada.

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  3. Dear Zurinah,
    This is indeed a beautiful poem. Thank you for explaining it so clearly to us. As you should know, this is one of the texts chosen for the Literature component for the SPM English syllabus. Did you realise that the last stanza has been left out of the poem in the texts supplied to the schools? I wonder if this was a mistake or done on purpose, as it surely casts a different slant on the message of the poem.

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  4. I agree with baffled, the deletion will distort the whole meaning as a poem can be literally regarded as a complete aircraft in which the pilot moves the yoke (control column)to maneuver the rudder...changing direction.
    The poet has already planned the outcome by steering the reader from first stanza to the next until it has reached the objective (last stanza) provided that the poem stays intact (no alteration and adulteration). Now, the aircraft has faced hydraulic failure resulting in rudder jamming and I don't think the 'passengers' will arrive safely at the designated destination.

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  5. Salam..
    Saya amat berminat dengan puisi yang puan tulis, "Masihkan Kau Bermain Seruling".Saya merupakan seorang guru BI yang sedang mengkaji puisi puan yang telah dialihbahasa ke Bahasa Inggeris dan dijadikan teks. Di dalam kajian saya, saya dapati ada banyak kelemahan dan perbezaan yang boleh membawa kepada kekeliruan. Oleh yang demikian, saya cuma ingin mengetahui adakah puan sendiri yang mnegalihbahasakan puisi tersebut atau ianya dilakukan oleh pihak lain. Sekian terima kasih.

    Redzuan Ahmad
    SMKSAJS

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  6. salam puan,
    i hope u don't mind me using ur article on 'Are You still Playing the Flute' on my blog as teachers are looking for information on it. i have also linked them to your blog.

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  7. Dear Mdm Zurinah,
    Allow me to congratulate you on your courage and openness!
    Re the line "in the hazard of you", it's a wonder not more English teachers had risen up in arms! ;) I would have called you, somehow, if not for this wonderful facility.
    May I suggest, with my limited understanding of BM, to rephrase it as "in this peril-filled city"/"in this city fraught with hazards/perils" (note the plural for 'hazards').
    Yours humbly,
    RT

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  8. Beautiful poem. I was quite heart stricken reading the interpretation as it was beautifully justified.

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  9. i m confusing whether the persona has crashed wf her beloved o nt? coz i read in one book...it mentioned they were no longer together ....who can tell me?

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  10. who can tell me whether the persona has crashed with her beloved o nt?i m confusing la...is it they crashed and the persona moved to city?

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  11. Hi Zurinah

    I love your poem for its lyrical quality, more so in the Malay version. The English version doesn't do justice to the original. Would you say the theme is that art must not be for art's sake, but art must serve society? Appreciate your feedback. Hope you are still writing poetry. You can find me at: http://meexam.blogspot.com.
    Thanks.

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  12. Dear Pn Zurinah,
    Terima kasih kerana telah berkongsi makna puisi ini dengan kami.

    As a student of TESL, I have to analyse your poem as part of my assignment. By sharing your ideas on the poem I can see the picture behind it.

    I wish you would contact the curriculum dept and take them to task on their careless treatment of your poem!

    Thanks again!

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  13. I would like ask u some question ... why , the last stanza of this poem are not in my literature book?

    and do you know about this ?

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  14. Dear Pn Zurinah,

    Like some of the others who have commented above, I am a student studying English in university and would like to do an analysis of this wonderful poem as well as its various translations. As such, I would greatly appreciate your personal opinions and feedback about your experience having this poem chosen as part of the literature syllabus. My email is joyen.wong@yahoo.com.

    Regardless of whether or not you deign to reply, thank you very much for your time and for giving us readers this poem!

    Best regards,
    Wong Jo-yen

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