Ginang
Pagalaung ginang pagalaung ginang pagalaung
The drums thunder
Pagalaung pagalaung pagalaung
Wake up the earth and the sky
The heaven and the netherworld
Wake up gods mortals devils
Sun Winds Storms Whirlwinds The Oceans’ anger Threatening rain Clouds Earth Boulders Rains Volcanoes Deserts Sand dunes upon sand dunes Ocean swells Rolling thunder Daytime lightning Rocks Meteorites Mars Dinosaurs wake up and step forward The Senselessness of the song Green blood The Parched forests The Comet’s tail sweeping through space
The drums thunder
Drowning out all cries all threats all clamors
Dry sharp sweet clanging strident stinging cloudy deep high resounding obstructed
The sound of the drums remain
The sound of ginang of ginang of ginang of
The cosmos’s silence
Only ginang left
Mighty and formidable great in greatness majestic in majesty strong and weak sinful and holy magical in mystery more dangerous than danger teetering upon unsteadiness lonely in loneliness misery overcoming misery bliss on the other side of bliss
Only ginang left
Om Tat Sat / I am the Supreme Being
I am the beating of the drums
Possessed
Madly possessed madly possessed madly possessed
Pagalaung pagalaung pagalaung
Fly fly fly
Through space Thundering through time
Four dimensions Infinite dimensions
Boiling over Breaking the dike Overflowing the banks
Tearing to pieces and sweep
Clean, clean, clean
Even the sounds of the ginang are absent
Pagalaung pagalaung pagalaung
No drum stage, no drum players
Possessed spirit lit with passion
No stage, no one listening
The music strangely shattering the empty space
To be nothing to be nothing to be nothing to be
Only the letter A is present
The A flies the A flies the
A of Sanskrit of Persian of Yiddish of Arabic of Latin
Of the aboriginals of Australia Africa
Pagalaung ginang pagalaung
The A splits in half the consciousness rends apart the unconscious
Ni swattik thidhik
Po hanim por nai tanggya bia atapah cei xit cei praung
Nai moh ghang patri mih ai cei sah bin bingu
Di ong nomas sibac kayong
Wed together breath and language
Language and play
The one who goes out takes along a cane
My uncle goes out taking along a rod
Hat on head, rod in hand
Together with an ivory pipe
The beautiful Gram Gram girls
He goes out with delight in his eyes
The play of silence of silence of
Ginang ginang ginang
Night of Nights Light of Lights Verbs and Nouns the Arithmetic progression of all adjectives of all human languages the Geometric progression of all interjections in the world Dead or being delivered Poem of Poems Old and New Separating and Gathering Hopes and Disappointments War and Peace Wind of Winds Liberty of Liberties Limits in Infinity
About to open a world
About to bless a breathing
Ginang ginang ginang
Om Tat Sat
Translated by Jalau Anak