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Are You Still Playing Your Flute?
- by Zurinah Hassan

Boy, this must be one of the most memorable local poems ever selected for the SPM English 1119 Literature Component. I find Latiff Mohidin's poem much too literal and lacks the beauty and rhythm of Zurinah Hassan's Are You Still Playing Your Flute? Here's the English translation followed by the original in Malay.

Are you still playing your flute?

When there is hardly time for our love

I am feeling guilty

To be longing for your song

The melody concealed in the slim hollow of the bamboo

Uncovered by the breath of an artist

Composed by his fingers

Blown by the wind

To the depth of my heart.

Are you still playing your flute?

In the village so quiet and deserted

Amidst the sick rice fields

While here it has become a luxury

To spend time watching the rain

Gazing at the evening rays

Collecting dew drops

Or enjoying the fragrance of flowers.

Are you still playing your flute?

The more it disturbs my conscience

to be thinking of you

in the hazard of you

my younger brothers unemployed and desperate

my people disunited by politics

my friend slaughtered mercilessly

this world is too old and bleeding.

Masihkah Kau Bermain Seruling?


Masihkah kau bermain seruling
walau waktu telah terlewat untuk kita bercinta
aku semakin terasa bersalah
melayani godaan irama
lagu yang tersimpan pada lorong halus buluh
dikeluarkan oleh nafas seniman
diukir oleh bibir
diatur oleh jari
dilayangkan oleh alun angin
menolak ke dasar rasa.

Masihkah kau bermain seruling
ketika kampung semakin sunyi
sawah telah uzur
waktu jadi terlalu mahal
untuk memerhatikan hujan turun

merenung jalur senja

mengutip manik embun

menghidu harum bunga.

Masihkah kau bermain seruling

ketika aku terasa mata bersalah

untuk melayani rasa rindu padamu

di kota yang semakin kusut dan tenat

adik-adikku menganggur dan sakit jiwa

bangsaku dipecahkan oleh politik

saudara diserang bom-bom ganas

dunia sudah terlalu tua dan parah.

Di sinilah berakhirnya percintaan kita

kerana zaman sedang menuntut para seniman

hidup di luar dirinya.

(NOTE: You will notice that the last stanza in the original has been left out in the English translation. This is what Zurinah Hassan says on her blog in reply to a reader who commented on this:

"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" - http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=15878397&postID=2200470330082836193).