Chairil Anwar

Love's a danger that quickly fades.

I want to live another thousand years.

Chairil Anwar (26 July 1922 – 28 April 1949) was an Indonesian poet.

Quotations

The Complete Poetry and Prose of Chairil Anwar (trans. Burton Raffel)

Unless otherwise noted, page numbers refer to The Complete Poetry and Prose of Chairil Anwar, ed. and trans. Burton Raffel (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1970).

• Sekali berarti
  Sudah itu mati.
  • To mean something, once
    Then death
    • "Dipo Negoro" (1943), p. 7

• Ah! hatiku jang tak mau memberi
  Mampus kau dikojak-kojak sepi.
  • But oh my heart that will not give itself
    Break, you bastard, ripped by your loneliness!
    • "Sia-Sia" ["In Vain"] (February 1943), p. 11

• Aku mau hidup seribu tahun lagi.
  • I want to live another thousand years.
    • "Aku" ["Me"] (March 1943), p. 21

• Bukan maksudku mau berbagi nasib,
  nasib adalah kesunjian masing-masing.
  • I don't intend to share fate,
    Fate which is a universal loneliness.
    • "Pemberian Tahu" ["A Proclamation"] (1946), p. 184

• Cinta adalah bahaya yang lekas jadi pudar.
  • Love's a danger that quickly fades.
    • "Tuti Artic" ["Tuti's Ice Cream"] (1947), p. 125

Quotations about Chairil Anwar

• [Anwar was] a thin, pale youngster, careless of his appearance. His eyes were red, and very wild, but they always appeared thoughtful; his movements were slow, as if utterly indifferent. ... In his ideals, in his movements, and in his actions themselves, he stabbed, cut and smashed old notions, leading some of his friends to think him ignorant, unaware of custom, a kind of bandit, characterizations he himself thought an honor and necessary in order to influence his slower friends into revolutionary ways.
  • H. B. Jassin, as quoted in The Development of Modern Indonesian Poetry (1967) by Burton Raffel, p. 81

External links

• Chairil Anwar Poems at Poem Hunter
• Encyclopedic article on Chairil Anwar on Wikipedia
• Media related to Chairil Anwar on Wikimedia Commons