Maskumambang( English Version )

Terjemahan oleh Stephanie Crabtree dengan bantuan dari Nick Williams

Dawn slowly penetrates the fog
Bintaro flowers fall in the library yard
On the edge of the pool, near a clump of taro
I sit on a stone shedding my tears

My grandchildren,
What kind of age
What kind of civilization
Will we pass down to you

My soul sings the song of Maskumambang
We are an arrogant generation
Biting off more than we can chew

We are not capable of making plans to face the future
Because we do not have the knowledge to read the bookkeeping of the past
And we cannot read the bookkeeping of today
Therefore the plans of the future are merely speculation, desire, and delusion

My grandchildren,
Our country is devastated by the wave of this age of insanity
Our virtuous ideals are pummeled by rocks
Lethargic on the lap of stones
But with a great effort I survive
Embracing healthy reason and the soul's voice
Despite being cast into the gutter of this age

Our nation today
Is like dice trapped in a box of debt
Shaken by nations with superior power

We are not able to oppose it
All this occurs in the name of development
Which mimics the order of development in the colonial era
The order of the state and the order of law
Also mimics the order of colonialism
Causing the people and the law to exist without sovereignty
Only the government and the political parties are legitimately sovereign

O gutter of civilization,
O dignity of a country now tattered,
Tumultuous country, fragile nation
Power and violence run rampant
The market is burnt, villages burnt,
Vagrants' huts demolished
Without any changes
All in the name of the superstition of development

Restaurants burnt, shops burnt, churches burnt
In the name of blazing religious zeal
If religion becomes a political emblem

Then religion will certainly erode
Because politics does not have a head,
Nor ears, nor a heart
Politics only knows win or lose,
Allies and enemies,
Shallow civilization

Although the life of a nation needs politics,
Politics must not interfere with the independence of faith and reason
In humankind's good fortune
Nonetheless, man's good fortune
In fairness live together in the world
We must guard the benefits of natural law
The lawful benefits of the community
And the good fortune of healthy reason

The sun creeps up from the eastern horizon
After passing the wall of trees
The gracious air greets my body
Spreading the scent of onions cooking in the kitchen
A pair of copulating beetles buzzes by