Twilight’s End and the Dawn of a New Year: Poems Collection by Leni Marlina [PPIPM – Indonesia]

Poem by Leni Marlina

–

This twilight buries itself in the arc of the sky,
its amber hues unravel like forgotten legends—
slowly dissolving into the ache of time,
a tale that night clutches tightly, unwilling to release.

2024, a year worn thin,
leaves its footprints on a silent road.
Its corridors echo with laughter,
its walls bear the scars of weeping.

Now the clouds have silenced their whispers.
Only the sun’s reflection,
only the shadow of the moon,
sweep the horizon’s edge,
carrying what once was
to realms no eye can reach.

This twilight is both altar and stage,
a farewell whispered,
a welcome yet unknown.
Its seconds pirouette soundlessly,
drawing open the curtains for 2025—
a year clad in foreign light,
its promises strange but infinite.

I cradle this stillness in my arms,
a secret left untold.
Under night’s thickening veil,
fragments of whispers linger:
sorrow, awe, joy—
all dissolving into an endless pause.

Oh twilight’s end,
you are no closure,
but the breath between endings,
a pause that bears the weight of time,
preparing to awaken as dawn.

Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia,
December 31st, 2024

/2/

The Song of a New Year

Poem by Leni Marlina

In the womb of time, it stirs—
a new year, cradled in the rhythm of days,
its first cry breaks the silence of dawn,
shaking the heavens with ancient prayers.

O God, we are but shards of Your light,
scattered across the vastness of the void,
adrift in the ocean of fate,
seeking Your boundless shores.

Fragile beings, we spin fragile hopes
from threads that threaten to fray.
Yet in You, time is an unbroken circle,
and Your mercy knows no boundaries.

To the chalice of morning,
we pour out our longing—
for a love unbound by seasons.
Guide our unsteady steps,
toward paths radiant and true.

Lord, though the clock’s hands pierce our years,
we stand resolute at the altar of courage,
vowing to this tender year
that life itself is an offering.

You, the Eternal,
who scatters stars across desert nights,
teach us to trace Your map,
lest we wander lost in the labyrinth of dreams.

This new year, O Divine,
let us be poets of Your making,
writing our destiny on the canvas of the wind
with ink drawn from the wellspring of faith.

Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia,
January 1st, 2025

/3/

A Year Divided

Poem by Leni Marlina

Time, the faceless hunter,
etches fractures into the mirror of existence.
Each second drips like molten fire,
engraving life’s fragile surface with the weight of years.

O God, are we mere shadows?
Splinters of Your fractured light,
stumbling across the circular path of time,
our steps trembling, our breaths faltering?

See us, Lord—
survivors of the storm-torn night,
carrying wounds that bear a thousand names.
And yet, within our chests burns a flame
quenched only by the tide of destiny.

The new year arrives
as the fragile birth of sunlight.
Yet it whispers a promise:
every ruin holds the seed of renewal.

Lord, teach us to light candles in the abyss,
to draw harmony from the chaos,
to find sacred sanctuaries amidst the dust of the world.

We, thirsty wanderers,
drink deeply from the river of Your mercy,
weaving fragile hopes from the morning air,
sewing them into the fabric of borrowed time.

O Almighty,
in the silence, we hear the song of time—
a hymn turning ashes into crowns of thought.

Lord, this year,
let us meet our destiny anew,
etching stories into the expanse of the heavens.
For You alone, Creator of all things,
hear the prayers of humanity—
those carried on the wings of silence,
those whispered amid the clamor of a restless world.

Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia,
January 1st, 2025

———————–
About the Author

Leni Marlina is an active member of the Indonesian Writers Association (SATU PENA) in West Sumatra province. She is also a member of the International Poetry and Literary Writers Community (ACC) in Shanghai, where she serves as the Indonesian Poetry Ambassador for the ACC Shanghai Huifeng International Literary Association. Additionally, she has been involved with the Victoria Writers Association in Australia.

Since 2006, she has served as an assistant professor in the English Language and Literature Study Program at the Faculty of Languages and Arts, Universitas Negeri Padang, Indonesia.

A few of her recently poems collection and other works can be fully accessed on these online media: https://suaraanaknegerinews.com/category/puisi-leni-marlina-bagi-anak-bangsa/

Leni is also the founder and leader of several digital communities focused on literature, education, and social issues, including:

1. World Children’s Literature Community (WCLC): https://shorturl.at/acFv1
2. Poetry-Pen International Community
3. PPIPM (Pondok Puisi Inspirasi Masyarakat), the Poetry Community of Indonesian Society’s Inspirations: https://shorturl.at/2eTSB; https://shorturl.at/tHjRI
4. Starcom Indonesia Community (Starmoonsun Edupreneur Community Indonesia):
https://rb.gy/5c1b02
5. Linguistic Talk Community
6. Literature Talk Community