one

today you are one
a little story of our own
a statement of grace, a proof of miracle.

one you are today
and many more may come your way
be courageous and truthful, be swift and helpful.

your presence a healing, a source of joy
your absence a longing, come return soon.

our little one, our morning sun
run if so you want
and catch your dream, your path
jump if so you dare
and grab those shining stars
cry if so you feel
then laugh again with merriment, strength and new determination.

may you stay forever you.

lebaran

realising a long-planned trip is always a nice thing to do. especially when the trip is for a vacation. high expectation lingers until the day come when you finally can go. you pack those bags, mark the check list of things to do, to bring, to settle, and so on. 

this year's 'idul fitri' public holiday is being spent there in bandung and then here in malang - where i write this note. 

earlier this week, i took a seventeen hour trip on malabar train from bandung in west java, to malang, here in the east. no, it was not the quickest way to get here from jakarta. but compared to the exhausting traffic jam experienced by those travelling with cars - it's not the slowest method either. 

we know 'mudik' is not always just about to be the fastest to arrive at home, or the longest holiday break; it's about the time spent with family. a reunion, or 'silaturahmi'.

soon i will be back to the capital city; soon works will resume; soon the crowds will shift; and soon deadlines will emerge the horizon. better summon up the optimism, flex the muscles, warm up a little bit, and then get prepared for whatever the coming weeks may bring! 

calea victoriei

this very afternoon i wandered alone through the calea victoriei in bucharest city. those light steps were perhaps similar to the ones i took fourteen years ago when i last came here in 2002, and also a year before - the time i first visited romania in 2001.

there are several unthinkable experiences in your life that you feel so humbled to encounter. deeply grateful. when your sight was curiously taken back through time, seeing yourself walking, and then you are amazed to realise something. your heart is capable to feel and understand - even though perhaps your mind couldn't hardly derive any conclusion.

this is the same bucuresti. with its calea, piata, strada and, located in orlando ten, the ambasada republicii indonezia. that was where i, as a curious stranger, used to play badminton with other curious strangers.

who knows where will i be in the next fourteen or fifteen years? what would bucharest be like? i need no definite answer.

to me, more than anything - this third visit to romania feels as if a curtain has been shed and a window has been opened before my eyes. enabling me to recollect, reflect and always be thankful. for the journey, the friendships, the compassions, the lessons, that shape this attitude, which i probably shall carry through the rest of my life.

harpers ferry

"...perhaps it's the color of the sun cut flat and coverin' the crossroad i'm standin' at. or maybe it's the weather or somethin' like that. but mama, you been on my mind..."

name

please tell me again - slowly if you can - how to correctly spell your name;
for i've tried it many times, with attempts to make it rhyme and sound quite like mine.

just right there and then - you said it again that everything happened for a reason;
and when i missed by a blink, how to correctly write your name, it also happened with a good lesson.

maybe i don't know the name. or maybe ours' is the same.

garden

went home for the second time this year. with a handful of things to do, things to say, things to remember and things to forget.

people to meet and people to greet. rendezvous of hearts, joyful days to celebrate, surrounded by relatives and friends.

the mandates i was tasked to carry and fulfil. the assignments entrusted upon me to complete. as a second secretary, and as a restless bee. trying to make sense of it all:

how long does it take for flowers to realise that the sun is shining and that the season is right for them to bloom?

snail

that morning while walking along a wet pavement,
he gently eased a snail to the safety of a grass
with his toe.
to spare anyone passing a dirty shoe
or the pain of even a small murder.
the snail did not know what had happened
and that its life had been spared -
and might even cross the pavement again -
but a giant the snail could not see or comprehend
had given it another chance of life.

"i wondered if perhaps the same had happened
to me some time in my life
when unbeknown to me,
some thing or some one
had gently eased me to safety
with the touch of a toe."