BALLADA LELAKI YANG LUKA
WS. Rendra

Lelaki yang luka
Biarkan ia pergi, mama
Akan disatukan dirinya
Dengan angin gunung.
Sempoyongan tubuh kerbau
Menyobek perut yang sepi
Dan wajah para bunda
Bagai bulan redup putih

Ajal! Ajal !
Betapa pulasnya tidurnya
Direlung pengap dalam !
Siapa akan diserunya?
Siapa leluhurnya?
Lelaki yang luka
Melekat di punggung kuda

Tiada sumur bagi lukanya.
Tiada dalam bagai pedihnya.
Dan asap belerang
Menyapu kedua mata.
Betapa dikenalnya bulan?
Betapa kan bisa menyusu dari awan?
Lelaki yang luka
Tiada tahu kata dan bunga.

Pergilah lelaki yang luka
Tiada berarah, anak dari angin
Tiada tahu siapa dirinya
Didaki semua gunung tua
Siapa kan beri akhir padanya?
Menapak kaki-kaki kuda
Menapak atas dada-dada bunda.

Lelaki yang luka
Biarkan ia pergi mama!
Meratap di tempat-tempat sepi.
Dan di dada:
Betapa parahnya








BALLAD OF THE WOUNDED MAN
WS Rendra

There’s this wounded man:
Let him go, mama
He’ll tie himself
To the mountain wind
A tottering buffalo rips open
Silence
All the mothers
Turn pale as a half-hidden moon

It was fate ! Fate !,
Snoring soundly,
Choking inside itself!
Who should he shout at
Who were his father’s father’s?
A wounded man
Clutching an unsaddle horse.

No well is reamed lke his wound
No pain reaches as deep.
The reek of sulphur
Beats at his eyes.
How will he know the moon?
How can he drink from clouds?
A wounded man
Knows nothing of words, know nothing of flowers.

Go, wounded man, go
Nowhere, son of the wind.
Who is he? He doesn’t know,
Climbing old mountain.
Who will end it for him?
His horse’s hooves pound
At mother’s breasts

There’s the wounded man:
Let him go mama!
Moaning in lonely place.
And in his heart:
How bitter, how broken.