SUKA MENANTI

Tarhim menderu dibawa sungai,
Lagu lama mengamit Qalbu;
Sejuk kampung dibuai badai,
Badai yang sama mengombak perahu

Bangun bersimpuh di atas lantai,
Merenung jauh mata bersayu;
Ashik terkenang saudara handai,
Bagai tafakkur di dalam kelambu

Bernipah lebat tepian sungai,
Pengkalan pagi nun di sana;
Ayuh adik beramai-ramai,
Menapak jalan  kita bersama

Sudah tersurat di alam azali,
Kampung ni Suka Menanti;
Tersepit sungai mengalir sepi,
Padang sayup membuah padi

“Wahai tuan pembawa perahu!
Di pengkalan kami kan menunggu;”
Dari gelap jawapan meluru,
“Pergi! Kenapa Aku diganggu!”

Perahu bertanjak dua pendayung,
Mengukir air sambil mengharung;
Melerai sekam padi terapung,
Mengejut ikan di pagi murung

Begitulah pagi di suatu hari,
Menyeberangi sungai pergi mengaji;
Berbekal pesan penuh sakti,
Harapan keluarga jangan dirugi

Pengkalan seberang kayunya buruk,
Lampu tunggal menumpah cahaya;
Ayuh adik! Masa dah suntuk,
Jalan jauh kita menghala

Sejarah lama ditulis semula,
Untuk adik yang mudah lupa;
Perit ditelan hati terluka,
Menjadi pedoman di hari muka!

2001

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The above quatrains depict a morning of those childhood days when my siblings and I would cross the Sungai Pantai Johor early in order to catch a bus to school. The sampan paddler refers to the late Abang Yahya Keling, a relative. When there was no one to ferry us, we would go back to the house to get our father. In his sarong and with a towel wrapped around his shoulders, father would paddle the sampan, often using the back stroke technique. Those mornings were marked by cool breezes that swept the river, the early rays of the sun and the sound of the oars hitting the water. In the horizon you could make out the turret of Tunku Aziz’s Pumpong castle, now torn down to make way for shopping lots.

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