IN EXILE/DALAM PELARIAN III- LATEST POETRY COLLECTION IN PUBLICATION BY SITI RUQAIYAH HASHIM

BIODATA OF SITI RUQAIYAH HASHIM

Rokiah Hashim from Malaysia writes using the name of Siti Ruqaiyah Hashim. She graduated from University of Science in Malaysia in Theatre and Drama, then continued her studies in University of Sydney and obtained Post Graduate Diploma in Translation from Institute of Translations and Books in Malaysia. Starting from 1987 her poems and short stories were published by mainstream literature magazines and newspapers. She is also prolific in film and theatre critics and wrote since 2007 in her column in a major national daily in Malaysia and published a film critic book in 2015 and some 250 articles. A bi-lingual anthology of her poems titled Catharsis/Katarsis in English and Bahasa Melayu was published in 2015 and Spanish in 2016. Her bi-lingual anthology together with 12 other world peace poets titled News From Strasbourg was published in 2017. All translation into Bahasa Melayu was done by SitiRuqaiyah herself. Her second bi-lingual World Peace Poem anthology titled Peace Be Upon You Davos was published in June 2019 in Zagreb. Her collection of poems were translated and published in Albanian recently by Ditet E Naimit 2019 titled Rerat E Sri Lavender. Her latest bi-lingual book is translations of Shaip Emerllahu poems In Bahasa Melayu and English titled Epal Tetovo/Apples of Tetovo also published in late 2019 .She translated Jeton Kelmendi's book and published it in 2020. She published her poetry collection Between Stolen Glances in 2020 by Kultura Snova followed by her 3rd peace Poem World Anthology Prayers for Aisha Lulu in 2021. Her works also appeared in numerous other anthologies together with other world poets and in foreign magazines and newspaper. .She attended numerous local poem festivals in Malaysia and all over the world. She is currently living in Europe and an associate author with International magazine Diogen Pro Culture for World Peace (USA), Poetrybay(USA),Greenwatch Bangladesh, Campus 247.Wordpress (Ghana), Atunis Galaktike Poetry (Brussels) IWABOGDANI (Brussels) and many others. Her poem won Best Poem in Split, Croatia in May 2019. Recently She was awarded by IWABOGDANI Brussels and Yalta 10th Chekov Festival in 2019. International Forum of Creativity and Humanity (IFCH) based in Morocco recently awarded her Excellence in Recognition of Humanitarian and Cultural Fields and on International Women’s Day 2020 she was awarded Ideal Arab Leadership Woman. She was also appointed Ambassador of Humanity from Malaysia by IFCH.

POEMS BY SITI RUQAIYAH HASHIM.

IN EXILE

III.

At one time I was puzzled to see them
What is it that they want from me?
Being hunted, caged,pressured all the times
Four times I almost died in their hands
Allah is Great….I have long life
Maybe to write this long poem like the Oddsey?
Oh Allah the Great….
What do you expect from Alfa Laila Wa Laila?*

Truth
And peace
That’s what I talked about non-stop
And I am holding to it
As taught by another admired great grandfather
A big respected clergy whose intuitions and predictions decided
The magical date of the independence of our country

Yes!
They are scared when we talked about peace and truth
So, many weapons were created against me
Which were painful,
Hurting
Intoxicated me
Gave me hope
All sorts of things
Like Kosem who brought with her love and naivety
She entertained them all
And numerous of them came and gone
They tried to capture her heart?
Or tried to silence her?
Or share her bowl of oats porridge?
Because in the gibberish strewn from her pens
There are priceless pearls
According to MS her fingernails are lacquered with crystals and gems
That Kosem is capable of shaking the world
From North Pole to the South
From East to West.

*Arabic Classics Tales of 1001 Nights.

III.

Suatu waktu aku hairan melihat mereka
Apanya yang mereka mau dariku?
Dikejar, dikepung, ditekan sepanjang masa
Empat kali aku hampir maut ditangan mereka
Allahuakbar….panjang umurku rupanya
Untuk menulis puisi panjang ala Odisi ini agaknya? MasyaAllah…..
Alfa Laila Wa Laila katakan!

Kebenaran
Dan keamanan
Itulah yang tak henti-henti ku katakan
Dan berpegang aku kepadanya
Seperti ajaran seorang lagi nenda yang dikagumi
Ulama besar yang firasatnya menetapkan
Tarikh keramat kemerdekaan negara kami

Ya!
Mereka takut bila kita bercakap tentang keamanan dan kebenaran
Lalu berbagai senjata dipersiapkan untukku
Yang menyakitkan
Memilukan
Melalai
Memberi harapan
Berbagai lagi

Seperti Kosem yang membawa cinta dan kenaifan
Dia menyantuni mereka
Dan berbelas datang dan pergi

Mereka cuba menawan hati Kosem itu?
Atau cuba mensenyapkannnya?
Atau menumpang semangkuk bubur oatsnya?
Kerana dalam racau yang terhambur dari hujung penanya
Ada mutiara berharga
Kata MS kukunya bersalut kristal bertatah permata
Kosem itu mampu menggegar dunia
Dari ufuk utara ke selatan
Dari timur ke barat

VLASKA ULICA, ZAGREB
WINTER 2021.

COPYRIGHT RESERVED