Short poem: Mangrove season (in two versions) by novalit99
Posting two versions of the same poem. One in Indonesian, one in English. They're not translations of each other exactly, more like the same thought in two different moods. --- **Musim Bakau** akarnya masuk ke lumpur tanpa izin seperti perasaan yang tak diundang air pasang, air surut, dan pohon itu masih di sini negoisasi dengan apa yang datang --- **Mangrove season** The roots go into the mud without asking. This is what belonging looks like when belonging is not comfortable. Tide in, tide out. The tree is still there, having made arrangements. --- I'm not sure which one works better. The Indonesian feels more compressed and more honest. The English one has a phrase I like, 'having made arrangements', which doesn't quite exist in the Indonesian. Curious what other readers think, though I understand this is a hard one to evaluate if you only have one language.