She gets up and keeps walking, seeing here and there the crowns of the soldiers' greatness scattered, broken after being trampled by the enemy. In the surroundings, she sees sharp swords, their blades stained with blood. The blood splashes on her white cloth, becoming a stain that she can't possibly wipe off. She screams in pain, as her hand is scratched by a sword that stands like a fence through which she has to pass. Her hand is bleeding and it hurts. This blood and pain make her jolt awake, that her sincere love cannot help but hurt her. She continues to look for Sumantri and can’t find him. She feels that she will definitely find him, because her love never gives up, even though she has to pass through the blood bridge. Because of that feeling of love, the clanging of swords sound as loud as her longing. And she sees the arrows that fly through the air like doves flying among the rainbows.
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The Bajang Child Swinging the Moon (137)
On the battlefield everything is violence and cruelty, but in Darmawati's eyes, the sparks of the clashes of swords look like a sprinkling of ylang-ylang flowers. Lit by love, on this battlefield Darmawati looks beautiful. The blood that splashes on her chest becomes a masmirah gem. Amidst the spears that are brandished majestically, her body looks as slender as an asoka tree. Patches of the soldiers' clothing are scattered and perch on her hair, becoming katangga flower ornaments. Her smile is sweet like fragrant pandan leaf in the midst of rancid blood. Her love makes her bloom like a lotus flower in the blood mud of the cruelty of the battlefield. Darmawati continues to look for Sumantri to disclose her love. Her love makes her forget she is passing through the dangers of the battlefield. In the sky, the arrows keep flashing. Eventually, out of nowhere, an arrow hits her neck. Darmawati falls to the ground, bleeding and passing away. Thus, Darmawati has died as a hero of love.
"Darmawati is dead, Darmawati is dead!" shout the soldiers of Widarba and Maespati, who know Darmawati. For soldiers at war, whoever dies on the battlefield is a hero. So it is not appropriate to consider Darmawati to have died. In their eyes, Darmawati has died as a hero. No one knows that Darmawati has actually died because of love.
The cry "Darmawati is dead" echoes far away and is filled with sorrow. Her sadness penetrates the frenzy of war, overcoming all screams of violence and causing sadness for those who at this time have forgotten about tenderness. The sound spreads through the hills, approaching the soldiers' hearts, until it finally comes to Sumantri's ears. Sumantri puts his palm to his ear, trying to hear the scream again. He seems not to believe it, but in the midst of the roar of the war, the screams become clearer and brighter; Darmawati died on the battlefield. He immediately gets up, and hurriedly goes to see the truth. He feels his footsteps are very slow, while his heart feels very heavy. He is confident that if Darmawati really died, it would be because of him. There is no other reason why Darmawati would dare to go onto the battlefield, if not to meet him. He doesn't feel he can fabricate any alternative. His heart holds all the answers. He knows that Darmawati loved him very much, even when the princess of Widarba found out he loved Dewi Citrawati. He knew the honesty of Darmawati's love, but he always refused her.
And finally he arrives at the place, where he finds Darmawati is already dead, covered in blood.
After the death of Sukrosono, he thought his life would be happy if he spent it with Darmawati. And it would be proper for him to respond to the love of the princess of Widarba, which was sincere and full of sacrifice. Darmawati would have definitely been happy if she could have felt his love in return. Thinking about it all, he wants to go home with Darmawati to Jatisrana, the place where he used to live happily with his younger brother. In reality, what was in his heart was the same as what was in Darmawati's heart. But why did he end up not being with Darmawati at Jatisrana? Instead today he hears that Darmawati has died on the battlefield. Sumantri is ruined by guilt, making it more difficult for him to walk. Is it true that Darmawati has perished? He rejects the thought that Darmawati is dead, as his ears hear. But the more he refuses, the more a voice in the distance screams pitifully, proclaiming that Darmawati has really died. He runs as fast as lightning through the din of war that will not subside. And finally he arrives at the place, where he finds Darmawati is already dead, covered in blood.
Sumantri cannot hold back his sadness. He covers Darmawati's body and wets her with his tears.
"Darmawati, forgive me," he says. Sumantri feels his words are too late to say. Not even the words of love that he speaks will be able to bring Darmawati back to his side. And he is struck with an immeasurable sense of loss. The Maespati soldiers around him witness it all. They do not understand what is happening in front of their eyes, but the sadness is so crushing on their hearts that they have to wipe away their tears. There is no place for love on the battlefield. Consequently, the soldiers who are fighting feel that now they can be swept away in the sadness that is carried away by love. Thus far, they have seen Sumantri is Mahapatih Suwondo, a mighty knight. Now they know that their mahapatih is actually a human who can shed tears for love. They don't know what has been going on between Sumantri and Darmawati, but they can feel it, there must be love between the two of them.
Indeed it is only now, when Darmawati has gone, that Sumantri feels what love really is. Faintly, he remembers that Darmawati was a woman who accepted him just the way he was. In front of Darmawati, there was no need for him to be more than himself. The image of Jatisrana always appears when he longs for calm, serenity and happiness. And Darmawati was the woman who invited him back to Jatisrana and accompanied him there. When he was suffocated by all the lust for greatness and a good name as a knight, it was Darmawati who encouraged him to be happy as an ordinary and simple human being. He had to return to himself after he felt suffocated in the search for his ideals, which turned out to be in vain. There Darmawati stood, ready to lead him back to his heart's home. And of course, Darmawati, who had a giant brother, would also accept his younger brother, Sukrosono, who was also a demon. Together with Darmawati, he would not be ashamed of his younger brother, so he would not lose his beloved younger brother. What is love if not all of that? And it is not love if it can't be owned. Darmawati could be owned, even wanted to be owned. Unlike Dewi Citrawati, who was impossible to be owned. Why did he reject Darmawati and want Dewi Citrawati? Sumantri regrets this because he has lost what he could have had, simply because he pursued what he could not have. It turns out that the loss has thrown him into immeasurable grief.
(This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo).
