Tremble, Burn, Die

[intertribal]

Years ago, while interning in Surabaya, I read an op-ed titled "Tremble, Burn, Die."  It was about terrorism - Indonesian newspapers like to take dramatic license with their titles - but the title stuck with me, and I planned to use it as the title of a hypothetical final book in a hypothetical "Nusantara" series about Americans in Indonesia that I

Comments

[asakiyume]

I like that line from the poem. You prompted me to go look up Khalilullah Khalili.

[asakiyume]

Heh, through Wikipedia I found another translation of the quatrain you quote. I like the translation you have better for the direct final line. Here's the other, though:

Kneaded by fate on the table of grief
What chance to drink pleasure from life’s cup?
Struggling like a candle in a drafty room
I flicker to a waxen puddle and vanish

Oh translation. You are a tricky thing.

[intertribal]

Interesting! I think my translation is more typical of the Indonesian language/style, so that makes sense.

[asakiyume]

Also: How long will you be in Indonesia?

[intertribal]

Until first week in august.