
(PPIPM-Indonesia, Poetry-Pen IC, Satu Pena, Kreator Era AI). Image Source:
Starcom Indonesia’s Artworks No. 925-64 (Assisted by AI).
Mother and the Universe”: a Collection of Selected Poems from Indonesian Poets (PPIPM-Indonesia, Poetry-Pen IC, Satu Pena, Kreator Era AI)
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Mother and the Universe
Poem by: Leni Marlina
(PPIPM – Indonesia; Poetry-Pen IC; Indonesian Writer of Satu Pena, Indonesian Creator of AI Era, FSM, ACC SHILA)
Mother,
you are like a prayer slicing through the heavens,
whispering endlessly, trembling the God’s Throne,
from your dhikr and prostration,
grow trees with cooling shadows,
anchoring me to a path untouched
by the world’s wearied sorrow.
Mother,
you fall upon me like merciful rain,
softening the parched fields of my soul,
your hands sketch patience
across the wounded canvas of this life,
steering me through destiny’s rugged bends,
which you tenderly soften with sincerity’s brush.
Your face holds the secret of unwritten verses,
a sanctuary of love recorded by angels.
I glimpse light in your eyes,
a crescent moon cradling the night,
its rays quietly lighting the silence.
Mother,
your steps stretch like a prayer mat
unfolding through time eternal,
your breath presses against heaven’s doors,
your sweat births the glow of faith,
you are the bridge,
the link between the heavens and my trembling heart.
And I,
I am but a fleeting dot in the narrative of your life,
a word whose meaning you breathe into,
your heartbeat, mother,
is an echo of God’s name,
filling the universe with love’s call.
You are like the center of the cosmos,
an axis of unending grace,
leading me to the boundless mercy of God’s embrace,
in your sweat lies a doorway to paradise,
at your feet, paradise blooms,
and in your pulse,
the universe whispers your name forever,
mother.
Monash, Australia, 2012
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Leni Marlina is an Indonesian poet, academician, and part-time journalist. She is a member of several communities included Indonesian Writer Satu Pena, Indonesian Creator of AI Era. She also founded and lead Indonesian Poetry Community of Indonesian Society’s Inspirations (PPIPM-Indonesia) and Poetry-Pen International Community.
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Please Accept This Life Book
Poem by: Anto Narasoma
(PPIPM – Indonesia; Poetry-Pen IC; Indonesian Writer of Satu Pena, Indonesian Creator of AI Era)
Here is a book, my child.
No words can offer wisdom more profound,
for within its pages lie a thousand stories,
and yet they cannot erase the essence of our being,
born from nothing into existence.
Within this book,
there is no doubt when my longing takes shape,
though the height of my love rises steeply,
carved from the sorrow within a mother’s heart.
And still,
read it over and over,
even as my presence is obscured by a distance
as tall as the clock hand perched on a bamboo branch.
I will continue to flow into the stories
woven into these pages.
Never betray time,
for to forsake life’s decree
is to summon the wind
to lash your soul,
erasing your name
from the records of this book.
If our meeting must end,
let the water cleanse the footprints you’ve left,
after you’ve swept the dust of past journeys
from the pages of this life.
Bengkulu, Indonesia
July 15th, 2019
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Anto Narasoma is a distinguished Indonesian poet, senior journalist, and mentor for Poetry Community of Indonesian Society’s Inspiration (PPIPM-Indonesia). He is also the member of the Poetry-Pen International Community and a recipient a recipient of the International Literary Award from Spain in 2022
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A Mother’s Love: A Shoreless Ocean
Poem by: Leni Marlina
(PPIPM – Indonesia; Poetry-Pen IC; Indonesian Writer of Satu Pena, Indonesian Creator of AI Era, FSM, ACC SHILA)
Mother,
you are a boundless ocean,
holding divine secrets deep within.
Your wounds dissolve into the tides,
concealed beneath waves of whispered prayers.
Your waves bring trials wrapped in blessings.
You bury your pain behind a smile,
like sunsets bleeding red,
their light an unmeasured gift to the world.
I am your child,
a small vessel adrift in the vastness of your love,
rowing on prayers,
pausing, faltering,
too small to fathom
the immensity of your sacrifice.
You remain the harbor that time cannot erode,
the sanctuary I return to,
even as life’s winds
shred the sails of my heart.
Mother,
you are a mercy woven into patience,
a night guiding toward dawn.
You lead me to the light of God’s grace.
Within your embrace,
my faith strengthens.
In your prayers,
I find my peace.
Monash, Australia, 2012
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In Remembrance
(For Mrs. Rohani Din)
Poem by: Anto Narasoma
(Community of Pondok Puisi Inspirasi Pemikiran Masyarakat: PPIPM – Indonesia; Poetry-Pen IC; Satu Pena Palembang, Kreator Era AI)
mother,
I open the pages of the book
you inscribed, from tale to tale,
for no moment of beauty ever escapes true narration;
once our meeting has passed.
from behind the words
that were spoken, the story of that evening breathed life into me.
but you, so wise,
for amidst the mouths that recount facts,
you are the morning face after the sun has spilled into my soul, mother.
write once more,
so that each page of the life book you gave, punctuated with commas,
becomes a poem of life to remember you, mother.
Bengkulu, Indonesia
July 13th, 2018
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The Story Stage Beneath the Full Moon
Poem by: Ramli Djafar
(PPIPM – Indonesia; Poetry-Pen IC; Indonesian Writer of Satu Pena Sumbar, Indonesian Creator of AI Era, ACC SHILA)
A night of beauty,
adorned with the glow of the full moon,
the heavens stretched wide, a stage for tales,
the curtain drawn,
episodes unfolding with the rhythm of life.
A song of longing whispers through the soul,
notes of love weaving the story,
echoing every sentiment in the heart,
I see my mother’s face,
crisp and clear in the moon’s pale reflection,
the figure I long for,
the sky stirs forgotten tales, still fresh with time.
Mother,
my heart aches with longing for you,
your name lingers in every prayer,
your face is ever present,
your voice forever etched in my ears,
your time on earth has passed,
but
you remain immortal in my thoughts.
Time marches steadily,
drifting toward the realm of change,
slowly the full moon dims,
fading into the stillness of the heart,
awaiting,
and
awaiting the dawn to break,
the story curtain falls,
the stage grows quiet.
Padang, West Sumatra,
Indonesia, January 23rd, 2025
/6/
The Sky that Cradles the Night
Poem by: Leni Marlina
(PPIPM – Indonesia; Poetry-Pen IC; Indonesian Writer of Satu Pena, Indonesian Creator of AI Era, FSM, ACC SHILA)
Mother,
you are a sky torn open,
spreading your wings across wounded horizons,
in your embrace,
oceans flow from rivers of time
stilled by silence,
your hands brush the stars,
soothing the lament of weeping skies,
you are like a mystery,
words fail to reach your depths,
as infinite as night unaware of its own darkness.
In your eyes,
I see a world sinking,
a galaxy shaped by tears
clinging to its edge,
in your silence,
the wind carries whispers,
messages delivered by flames that refuse to die.
If the night is a womb awaiting birth,
you are the dawn emerging from its shadows,
a light guiding the lost to hope,
your smile bears the residue of battles for humanity,
as if the full moon once bled
and left scars upon the oceans of life.
Mother, your sky mirrors the world’s uneven terrain,
even the rainbows you build
are often shattered
by storms surging from every side,
yet you endure,
a compass steady in the chaos of my days and nights.
you give me stars
to teach me to seek light amidst despair,
mother, you are a sky that cradles the night,
rocking your child to rest before tomorrow arrives,
bringing fate’s silent truths to light.
Monash, Australia, 2012
/7/
Oh, Ummi
Poem by: Yusuf Achmad
(PPIPM – Indonesia; Poetry-Pen IC; Indonsian Writer of Satu Pena; Indonesian Creator of AI Era)
I remember, ummi, sleeping,
in my room in Nyamplungan,
the light of love, ummi’s eyes sigh softly,
“Darling, longing”,
“Eat, it’s ready”,
I lay down,
and the mark
endures, never fading.
her gentle hands,
wrapped in cloth,
enfolding
my entire being.
It is done.
I rise, I run,
climbing the golden peak of my heart,
or the jagged peak of thorns, like a bird soaring
through the boundless sky.
Quenching thirst, then the rainbow colors appear in the drizzle
alone,
though Ummi wishes to be, but knows not when
it shall come.
In time, I shall surely come for you,
the Ummi who left before me,
I was the baby once held in ummi’s arms,
leaving the infant behind,
ummi whispered,
“It is done”,
whether it’s finished or still yet another time.
My prayer for you as an infant will forever remain,
oh Ummi, my longing flows unyielding,
evermore, even now.
Surabaya, Indonesia,
January 23rd, 2023
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* Ummi: mother
* Nyamplungan: a name of vilage in East Java, Indonesia
Yusuf Achmad is currently the Head of SMK SAINTREN Al-Hasan Surabaya, Indonesia. He is the Chairman of the MKKS for Private Vocational Schools in Surabaya. The author is also known for one of his poetry collections, “Belanggur di Nyamplungan”.
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The Light of Mother’s Home
Poem by: Leni Marlina
(PPIPM – Indonesia; Poetry-Pen IC; Indonesian Writer of Satu Pena; Indonesian Creator of AI Era; FSM; ACC SHILA)
Mother,
you are a home never fully built,
from breath to breath, from wound to prayer,
your pillars planted in patience,
raised in the silent sacrifice of selflessness.
Your walls are not made of bricks
but of bones of devotion,
bearing the small sky within your chest.
Your roof is not of tiles,
but woven prayers,
sheltering me from storms unseen,
guarding me from the rains of destiny.
I see the cracks upon your face, Mother—
not as flaws,
but as divine maps guiding my steps
to where eternal love resides.
Every line is a letter from God,
etched in tears and morning light,
a script of grace I’ll never forget.
You are not just a home, mother.
you are like a small universe,
a small cosmos where prayers gather
like rivers flowing into oceans of blessings.
Here, I am a fragile boat
floating upon your chest,
never lost,
even when the winds of life shred my sails.
And when you surrender, mother,
becoming one with the earth you loved,
the home you built lives on.
It rises in my prayers,
echoing in every holy name I call,
a light that will never dim.
Monash, Australia, 2012
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This poem, along with other works (poem no. 1, 3, 5, 7, 8) by Leni Marlina written in 2012, was first published digitally in 2025.
Leni Marlina has been an active member of the Indonesian Writers Association (SATU PENA) in West Sumatra since 2022. She is also a prominent member of the ACC Shanghai Huifeng International Literary Association, serving as Indonesia’s Poetry Ambassador for ACC SHILA. Additionally, she participated in Victoria’s Writers Association in Australia. A few of Leni’s works have been translated into English, Chinese and Mahuri (India).
Since 2006, Leni has served as a lecturer in English Language and Literature at the Faculty of Languages and Arts, Universitas Negeri Padang.
Beyond academia, Leni founded and leads several communities dedicated to literature, language, literacy, and social causes, including:
1. World Children’s Literature Community (WCLC): https://shorturl.at/acFv1
2. Poetry-Pen International Community
3. PPIPM (Pondok Puisi Inspirasi Masyarakat), the Poetry Community of Indonesian Society’s Inspirations: https://shorturl.at/2eTSB; https://shorturl.at/tHjRI
4. Starcom Indonesia Community (Starmoonsun Edupreneur Community Indonesia):
https://rb.gy/5c1b02
5. Linguistic Talk Community
6. Literature Talk Community
7. Translation Practice Community
8. English Languange Learning, Literacy, Literary Community (EL4C)