The Pictures You Sent (i)

I. Memory (of Dried Marsh at Merauke)

     of the pictures you sent,
     my heart is torn before
     scattered spinifex in the desert

     at night it shows an endless landscape
     of silvery peace reaching horizon.
     Moonlight envelopes it. The stars
     fades out, leaves only the brightest
     sparkling

     during the day it reveals my house
     standing lonely amongst nests of snakes,
     you can see it beyond the end
     of the road. Rows of burnt trees
     along the edge, trailing off.

     In that ancestral property, the ground
     marooned by the blood of our fathers, a girl
     curled in childhood space she never leaves:
     beaten by the fears, raped by time

Metro, 02/06/2010
© Era Fiyantiningrum