Poetry Collection by Leni Marlina: “Guarding Life”

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When Reading Oneself

Poem by Leni Marlina

–

I arrive without tools.
Without a map.
Without the hunger to win.

Even breath
comes late
to find its body.

This page
is not a record,
but pressure—
days that once
sat heavily
on the chest.

The words are unadorned.
They stand
like uncovered bones:
straight,
unskilled in lying.

If your eyes pause
on a single line,
it is not meaning
closing a path,
but a nameless call.

This poem does not insist.
It waits
like an empty chair
in a room
where you finally
sit
without a role.

–

Melbourne, Australia, 2012

—

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Guarding Life

–

This age
evening
hesitates to become night.

Light hangs,
neither falling
nor leaving.

Truth
wrinkles on the floor.
Its skin exhausted
by brightness.
Its face is hidden
so the lungs
do not surrender.

The world speaks at once.
Sounds collide.
Promises creak
in the joints of time.
Honesty ticks alone
a medical device
in a chest
nearly fading.

The air tastes of iron.
Language bleeds.
Hope changes hands
like something fragile
without an address.

Yet between breaths,
wet earth
still releases
the scent of origin
a sign that life
has not stepped away.

Faith, I feel,
in the soul.
Not aflame.
But enough
to brace the dark of living
from collapsing all at once.

I refuse sweetness.
I embrace bitterness
it forces the eyes
to remain open.

No shouting.
No cursing.
I store life
in a hollow
untouched by the market.

If steps grow small,
let them.
If solitude settles,
let it.

I wish to arrive
without inner tearing,
faith still breathing,
humanity
not uprooted
from its own body.

If light remains only fragments,
I will guard them
with every sense
so life
does not shrink
into merely
surviving.

–

Melbourne, Australia, 2012

—

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Amid the Clamor

Poem by Leni Marlina

–

I live
between sounds
that displace meaning.

Words run.
Honesty
gasps
behind the lungs.

Truth waits
on a cold floor.
The head bows
not in fear,
but forgetting
how long
time can be cruel.

The world speaks
without breath.
Promises screech
at history’s fragile door.
Conscience ticks
like a broken clock
in a worn chest.

I choose silence
as a form,
so the inner self
does not dissolve
into echo.

Amid the noise,
I guard myself.
Unafraid of losing the world.
I bow
to the One
voiceless,
yet life-giving.

–

Melbourne, Australia, 2012

—

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Faith in a Small Flame

Poem by Leni Marlina

–

Faith
does not arrive
as the sun.

It comes
like leftover fire
in a windy yard.

Not dazzling.
Not promising morning.
But enough
to hold collapse
through a single night.

Prayer walks limping.
Some fall
before the sky
turns its face.

Yet faith remains
a lamp
in a distant house:
not displayed,
not worshiped,
kept burning
for one more step.

Patience
stands guard.
From this smallest flame
I learn
to breathe
without certainty.

–

Melbourne, Australia, 2012

—

/5/

On How to Arrive

Poem by Leni Marlina

–

The world calls arrival
a race.

Who is fastest.
Who is loudest.
Who carves a name.

I choose another path:
walking
without elbowing,
keeping
without seizing.

If I arrive without applause,
so be it.
If I arrive unseen,
so be it.

I want to arrive
without losing myself
faith still warm,
humanity
not scattered
along the roadside.

–

Melbourne, Australia, 2012

—

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After Everything Is Passed

Poem by Leni Marlina

–

Words close.
There is no ending.

Life moves
slow,
hard,
sometimes limping.

If what remains
in your chest
is a pinch of silence,
a shard of awareness,
or a small flame
refusing to go out,
that is enough.

We are not asked
to be whole forever.
Only
not to surrender
what is still breathing
within us.

I close this page
like night itself:
without applause,
without a map,
with quiet trust
as long as feeling is kept,
humanity
has not left.

–

Melbourne, Australia, 2012

——-

About the Poet – Leni Marlina

Leni Marlina was born in Baso, Agam Regency, West Sumatra, Indonesia, and is currently based in Padang, West Sumatra. She is a poet, writer, and lecturer in the English Literature Program at the Faculty of Languages and Arts, Universitas Negeri Padang, where she has taught since 2006.

Her recent works include the single-author poetry collections The Beloved Teachers (2025) and L-BEAUMANITY: Love, Beauty, and Humanity (2025), as well as the English Stories for Literacy trilogy (2024–2025).

In addition to poetry, Leni actively writes short stories, essays, literary criticism, and reviews, and translates literary and journalistic texts for national and international digital platforms. Her work consistently positions language as a space for reflection, empathy, and the affirmation of human dignity.

Alongside her academic career, Leni is deeply involved in literary and cultural journalism. She works as a freelance writer and contributor to various digital media and serves as editor and editorial staff for several outlets, including Suara Anak Negeri News (suaraanaknegerinews.com) and Negeri News (negerinews.com), both of which focus on education, literacy, literature, culture, and humanitarian values, guided by a shared commitment to giving voice to the voiceless.

Her contributions to literature have earned national and international recognition. She received the Best Writer Award 2025 from SATU PENA West Sumatra at the 3rd International Minangkabau Literary Festival (IMLF-3), chaired by Sastri Bakry. She is also the recipient of the ACC International Literary Prize 2005 from the ACC Shanghai Huiyu International Literary Creative Media Centre and received an international literary honor from The Rhythm of Vietnam (2025).

Since 2025, Leni Marlina has served as Indonesia’s Poetry Ambassador for the ACC Shanghai Huifeng International Literary Association (ACC SHILA) and as ASEAN Director for ACC SHILA Poets. In the same year, she was appointed National Director (Indonesia) for the Panorama International Literary Festival (PILF) by the Capital Writers International Foundation, for the festival held in India (January–February 2026).