In the eyes of the tiny demon, the woman is like a stalk of angsana with its growing flower buds. Like the splashes of clear water of the Cirapatra River.
By
SINDHUNATA
·6 minutes read
The crowing of the junglefowl begins to be heard in the distance, awakening all the inhabitants of the forest. The morning sun is shining through the cracks of the overgrown trees. Crashed into the trees, its rays break into beams of light like a horse\'s mane in a wild wind. The tiny demon plucks up the courage to look at a woman who is hugging him.
When his eyes tumble on the woman\'s bearing, the tiny demon seems to be struck in awe by her sheer beauty. He cannot describe the beauty of the woman in words except by seeing her through the marvel of the flowers that he often encounters. Taking a glimpse of her, the tiny demon seems to be admiring an angsana flower blooming on the bank of the Cirapatra River, whose crystal clear water flows, like a long leaf, along the Jatirasa forest.
In the eyes of the tiny demon, the woman is like a stalk of angsana with its growing flower buds. Like the splashes of clear water of the Cirapatra River, the pollen of the angsana flower comes off to the ground prolifically, radiating the fragrance of perfume.
"I\'m your mother, son," the woman says. The tiny demon is unable to make out what the woman says. He responds to her acknowledgment only by burying himself more deeply into the woman\'s arms. He is feeling an inexplicable warmth and peace. He is simply lulled into the immersing warmth and peace of a mother. He is simply feeling it, and says, “Is this how warm and peaceful the cubs feel when they huddle in their mother\'s arms?”
The tiny demon is suddenly awakened by his soberness that the woman who is now hugging him is the one he has not seen for the first time. She has been familiar to him for a long time, even before he was born into the world. He feels as if he was back in a mother\'s womb, even though he himself has never known a mother ever since his eyes opened to see the world for the first time.
The sun shines more cheerfully. The morning sings along in the freshness of the waving angsana leaves in the caress of the gusting mountain wind. The incessant splashes of the Cirapatra River soak the silence, which is soon broken by the joyful screams of young animals. They are wandering around to find and wake up the tiny demon.
The young animals abruptly hold back in amazement to see the tiny demon hanging intimately on the shoulder of an unfamiliar creature. Never have they seen the tiny demon fall into such a tantrum. The tiny demon would, in fact, be the one who wakes them up from their sleep, inviting them to immediately play around in the Jatirasa forest. The young animals stand silent, watching him from a distance.
"Son, I really am your mother. I\'m sorry for having abandoned you," the woman says. She hugs back the tiny demon tightly, as if she wants him apart no more. She is landing kisses on the tiny demon, as if she would never be satisfied.
The tiny demon feels warm, not just because of the hugs and kisses, but because his cheeks are being sprinkled with the pouring tears from her eyes. The teardrops are felt much warmer than the sun rays he savors once he wakes up in the morning after he spends the night in immense loneliness. The teardrops are far more beautiful than the pearl-like splashes of water as they hit the rocks in the Cirapatra River.
The tiny demon felt in her tears a longing, which can only be felt but is never said. The tears turn out to be the language for the ever-silent longing for so long.
Because of the tears, his buried longing is awakened from its silence, and the tiny demon seems to be awakened from his love numbness. The tears appear to be a powerful language to reveal love. The jungle trees suddenly crack their branches so that the sun rays can vividly hit the body of the tiny demon.
The tiny demon is completely released from the numbness of love, and he is able to speak words he has never spelt out before. Not only him. The onlooking young beasts are able to talk and understand that the tiny demon has been released from the silence of his love.
“My son, I have been yearning to hug you. I\'m sure you have, too. It\'s just that you didn\'t know how you should fulfill your longing. Now our longings have been fulfilled. Let the longing itself tell the story who I am and who you are. Our conscience is far more sincere and rich in words, my son, than my tongue which seemed numb when I was about to hug you," the woman says.
My son, I have been yearning to hug you. I\'m sure you have, too. It\'s just that you didn\'t know how you should fulfill your longing. Now our longings have been fulfilled.
While saying so, the woman keeps the tiny demon in her tight hug. And the tiny demon does not want to let go of the hug too. At that moment, their longing seems to let go from their bodies. That longing flies away along in the sound of the sendaren [bamboo instrument] in the wind.
And the trees that have been silent all this time are awakened by his melodious sounds. The giant bamboo trees sway in the wind, wanting to share the story about the longing that has now turned in words. The leaves rustle, but in their soft rustle there is a storm of words that cannot by silenced anymore by the reclusiveness of the jungle.
KOMPAS/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO
Sindhunata
The jungle does not turn out to be a reclusiveness that could only remain silent. Nature is the most honest witness to life that can record all the sorrows and sufferings experienced by the woman and the tiny demon now in her arms. Now it is the nature wilderness that takes them both to Jatisrana hermitage and narrates the story of the two of them.
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