William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

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Written by Nurel Javissyarqi
Translated by Agus B. Harianto

LAGU NASIB SEORANG NENEK
William Butler Yeats

Aku bangkit bersama fajar, lalu berlutut meniup,
Sampai bercetusan nyala api, nyala-bernyala riuh.
Lalu aku mesti menggosok, memasak dan menyapu,
Sampai gemintang mulai berkilau, mengedip tersipu-sipu.
Tapi si gadis masih baring, mimpi dalam ranjangnya,
Tentang pita terpantas, penghias dada dan kepala;
Hari-harinya pun silam, ditelan alpa nan hampa.
Dan mereka mengeluh, bila saja angin mengusik jalin,
Sedangkan aku harus kerja, karena lanjut sudah usia,
Dan bibit api: mulai lemah, tak berdaya dan dingin.

Song of the Fate of a Grandma
By William Butler Yeats

I rose with the dawn, and then on the knees to blow,
Until the fire flying around, the flame burnt buzz.
Then I had to rub, cook and sweep,
Until the stars began to shine, blink in blush.
But the girl was still lying, dreaming in her bed,
About deserved ribbon, decorator of the chest and head;
Her days past away, swallowed by negligent and emptiness.
And they complain, if only the wind disturbs relationship,
While I must work, because of old,
And the seeds of fire: weakened, helpless and cold.

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) was born in Sandymount near Dublin, the greatest Irish poet from the family of artist decadences; his father and his big brother is painter, his sister is founder of Cuala Press. Firstly, he wanted to be a painter, but eventually he chose to live as a poet. His soul was made up and motivated of poor farmers in Sligo. When he was a child, he often heard stories of life and old fables, so he was motivated to be patriot to use his talent for the sake of free his nation from colonizing of British. A leader of the group of young writers of his country, because of love to the motherland, he created plays which was performed in the building whom built by Lady Gregory, a woman who fought to the freedom of Ireland. At 1922, he was a member of the Irish Independent Representatives. His talent in essay explicitly mystics, and automatically followed the stream of symbolic which admired to the poet William Blake. At 1923, he got the Nobel Prize in Literature. His most important works are: The Wanderings of Oisin (1989), The Eind among the Reeds (1899), The Wild Swans at Coole (1917), The Tower (1928), The Countess Cathlee (1892), The Land of Heart’s Desire (1894 ), The Shadowy Waters (1900), Cathleen in Hoolihan (1902), The King’s Threshold (1904), Dairdre (1907), Ideas of Good and Evil (1903), Discoveries (1907), Poetry and Ireland (1908), etc. The unique peculiarity of Yeats is that he was capable to balance his soul to follow the younger generation, and became prominent among them. (from the book Puisi Dunia (World Poetry), Volume II, compiled by M. Taslim Ali, Balai Pustaka, 1953, which in retranslation into English would be more less like above).
***

Here I quote a speech by Kenzaburo Oe (the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1994) which talked about Yeats;
“When Yeats won the Nobel Prize, the Irish Parliament suggested to form a committee, to congratulate him, which contains the sentences as below:
“… Awards that have been attributed to this country, is a large contribution to the culture of the world, through its success”
… The race that has so far not been received yet in the committee of nations.
… Our civilization will be judged on behalf of Senator Yeats.
… There will always be the danger of the possibility of judgments from the country that had lost its insanity to the passion of the destruction (Nobel Prize, congratulations to Senator Yeats).
Yeats is the writer whose resurrection I want to follow…”
(From the book Pengakuan Sastrawan Dunia Pemenang Nobel, editor by Zen RS, penerbit Pinus, 2006, which in re-translation into English would be more less like above).
***

Read the poem of Yeats above, as if intimated to the tales of his past, by standing on consciousness he striped his pen.

When the faint color and the voice of the dawn, resurrected by the spirit of the ancestors, to pass through the noisy and echoes of light into the view.

Its petals were closed with admiration to cover the youth observing deeply, for the glint of brush of thought until the witnesses was embarrassed to look.

That in a isolated country, there was resounding flair to present for the essence, from the tradition broken down by colonialism.

On the ruins of fallen city by the greedy feet, then born the dew of maturity, resembling the sparkling of flying dust incarnates to be the stars.

When in the sun light, through the window the children are joking in peace, mutual respect as their song.

Prosperity of values and comfort of the heart, receives the life charity, for the wisdom of the future that dreamed by the world.

No more dreams because of riddled by doubt, but Yeats always insisted, the days like the past, will not ever change except to continue the struggle.

Someday, after getting up of rotted bed, the fluttering flags will be signed in the chest, and tie the head as a crown.

After vacuum of the seriousness to tear, pulling the height of darkness, until the sky is getting blue.

Pull out the tree roots from the fountain of life, such as chemical reactions onto repetitive engineering.

The will to learn about thousands of possibilities, like weighing air of the wind, swung the consideration.

Someday, it can be calculated carefully, thus the dignity of humanity to develop the nation, to the borders of certainty to manifest.

With the rhyme of Song of the Fate of a Grandma, Yeats set into the periods of despair, if there no more the poker of embers, fire seedlings growth weaker.

Here vigilance is maintained, before the coming of weak generations, when they doesn’t continue the flame of patriotic spirit.

Hunger, poverty, stupidity is quickly spread out like a feeling of luxury, satisfied or safe, be the wide open doors, and all took it, though not a legal heir.

Yeats was worried about the incident, by him alertness of preparation was so important, in order to do not easily be disturbed by the hurricane of change.

As if pronounced the sentences; make your experience as old as the fire of colonialism of hell, while your fighting being as young as the colors that grow in heaven.

Yeats incarnated figure of prodigy from Ireland, when he got a Nobel Prize in Literature, the man who hailed the cultural coloring of the world, on the colonial oppression.

Similar like the sacred words as following; “The children who survived from disaster, he would be able to save his nation,” those are the fate of Yeats, in the presence of his birth race.