The Marriage Diary

By Dorothea Rosa Herliany
Translated by Mona Zahra Attamimi.

when i married you, i silenced my need for your fidelity.

you then changed and became my obedient slave.

this world that i own i built on a hill of stones

and a field of blady grass. you ploughed it, turning the land fertile

and i harvested while hauling around my sniffling lust.

i have a thousand wild beasts, i’ll use them as soldiers

that will stalk and imprison you.

and, the bamboos i had planted will be made into spears and blades.

run as far as your cocky, macho strides can take you, man!

hide in your mother’s armpits,

read the body language and the growth

of saplings in the greenhouse: tell me how to erect a dwelling

and build walls without doors - the prison of my offerings

that you had read in your own tongue.

i married you but not for your fidelity.

i’ve tolerated the wars waged with myself at each battlefield.

i am the commander of a troop of the wildest beasts

-who are always lusting after you, as they ogle

you at the dining table.

for now let me hold you,

before i heed and end my dire hunger.

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