In between the moments of silence
When words are not spoken
And the seconds fall away like dying leaves
I say a quiet prayer of thanks
For this brotherhood
This fragile web of comradeship
This great gossamer bond of friendship.
#770 On Israel’s Attack on Hamas Leaders in Qatar
- The recent attack committed by Israel on Qatari soil against Hamas leaders demonstrated an undeniable fact: Israel is now a cancer in the heart of the Middle East, and an active aggressor that needs to be repulsed.
- While there is a case to be made against Hamas’ actions on October 2023, the ensuring response from the Netanyahu administration has shown that Israel is now clearly a genocidal regime that must be stopped.
- The tragedy is that under the current Trump administration, this Israeli government believes that it can act with impunity, and take advantage of American acquiescence to expand its covert and military operations across the Middle East: from Lebanon and Iran, and now into Qatar.
- For the Gulf states that have forged their own security and energy arrangements with the US over the course of the 20th century, there is a choice to be made: will they continue to cower in the face of Israeli imperial ambitions, or will they take action to wield their (not inconsiderable) economic and geopolitical heft to make a stand against Israel?
My take: Netanyahu’s decision to expand Israel’s imperial aggression as a means of showing a determined response to the October 2023 attack will likely lead to a decades-long cascade of reactions and counter-reactions that will eventually lead to a denouement of the Israeli saga of regional destabilisation and colonialism, and an unraveling of Israeli as a Jewish apartheid regime, as the US’ global hegemony continues to erode over the coming decades.
#769 On The Dappled Light
The warm light streams through
The wide bright windows, dappled;
My poor heart aches - breaks.
#768 On Grandiose Meetings
In conference rooms with faux-wood tables we
Enact a pageantry banal and false
In suits and ties, with speeches grand and twee
And cliches formed from flawed inchoate thoughts
Imagine: lives devoted to this game
Existence frittered on such prancings - lame!
#767 Tentang Fantasi Seorang Suami
Menurut aku, kau masih sini
Masih dibelai dimanja sang suami
Masih disisi berceritaceriti
Menurut aku, kau dan aku bukannya terpisah
Jarak jasad bukanlah ukuran realiti
Hanya fatamorgana dunia yang terkukubesi
Menurut aku, kita masih tetap bersama
Masih tetap berkongsi gurau leka
Masih tiada terasing terduka.
#766 Tentang Menikam Masa Dengan Tangisan
Moga esok semua ini hanya mimpi
Dan kau masih dalam rangkulanku, dinda:
Mesra, hangat, kasih
Sedang masa takkan ligat berputar
Melainkan hanya tunduk diam
Menyaksikan kita berdua, dinda:
Aman, tenang, diam
Masa, aku tikam kau bertubi-tubi
Dengan segala deru tangis ini
Meski kau takkan ambil peduli.
#765 Tentang Transit Di Istanbul
Ah, Istanbul, kita ketemu lagi!
Sepertinya jodoh kita tak pernah lari
Masih lagi aku terperuk dalam perutmu
Sang ibukota garudaraya yang ligat
Mengikat sang musafir yang kepenatan
Dalam kelikatan duniawi yang penuh gemerlap
Aku menghitung setiap saat yang pekat
Mencari ruang keluar dari kewujudan yang tenat.
#764 Tentang Kejauhan (Dihirisgilis)
Hati bagai dihirisgilis
Kenang nasib dinda disana
Tiap hari bergenang tangis
Bila dinda jauh dimata.
#763 On This Parting (Overthrown)
They say parting is such sweet sorrow
But there is not so much of sadness
But rather a sense of hollowness:
What was me has been overthrown
Deposed into an exiled bitterness.
#762 Tentang Aku Dan Waktu
Siapa aku? Hanya seorang penunggu
Yang mengharungi kehidupan penuh celaru
Jangan didesak tanpa wajar
Jangan diasak dibawah sedar
Pantang dilasak sebelum terpintar
Dan apa itu aku? Hanya seorang insan
Dari kalangan sejuta manusia di zaman edan
Mencari tenang dibalik taufan
Menuntut terang dibalik kegelapan
Mencari gemilang dalam kegelumangan
Aku hanya aku
Insan yang terpaku manatap waktu.