"WE AND THE STONE": The Poems Collection by Leni Marlina (PPIPM-Indonesia, Poetry-Pen IC, Indonesian Writer of Satu Pena, Indonesian Creator of AI Era, FSM, ACC SHILA)

By Leni Marlina

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/1/

WE AND THE STONE

Poem by Leni Marlina

[PPIPM-Indonesia, Poetry-Pen IC, Indonesian Writer of Satu Pena, Indonesian Creator of AI Era, FSM, ACC SHILA]
★★★★★★★★★★★★★

We are the stone!
Lifted by small, trembling hands,
hurled against the armor of tyranny!

We are the stone!
Striking iron skulls,
echoing through the streets—
a clang of defiance against the void!

We are the stone!
Launched by hands that refuse to kneel,
aimed at those who crush the light beneath their boots.

We are the stone!
A gravestone for the justice they buried—
but not for long.

Remember this:
We are the stone,
we are the witness,
we are the weapon.
We are the voice that will split the silence,
louder than steel,
stronger than fire,
until they learn to see,
until they learn to fall,
until they cannot hold this land in chains.

Padang, West Sumatra
INDONESIA, 2016

/2/

THE CITY THAT CANNOT BE BURIED

Poem by Leni Marlina

[PPIPM-Indonesia, Poetry-Pen IC, Indonesian Writer of Satu Pena, Indonesian Creator of AI Era, FSM, ACC SHILA]
★★★★★★★★★★★★★

The city crumbled,
its bones sinking into the arms of the earth.
Walls turned to whispers,
carried by winds thick with mourning.

But look—
children trace its outline upon the ruins,
etching homes from the dust,
lifting towers of prayer upon the silence.

And they return.
The city falls.
They build again.

For a city is not stone and mortar,
but the longing that refuses to die.

Padang, West Sumatra
INDONESIA, 2016

/3/

WHEN THE SKY FALLS SILENT

Poem by Leni Marlina

[PPIPM-Indonesia, Poetry-Pen IC, Indonesian Writer of Satu Pena, Indonesian Creator of AI Era, FSM, ACC SHILA]
★★★★★★★★★★★★★

The hours turn brittle.
The seconds fracture.
No chime, no ticking.
Time collapses into itself.

The calendar clings to its pages,
for dates have lost their weight.
The sun forgets its ascent,
the night lingers, afraid to leave.

The sky holds its breath.
It waits for your name to be spoken again.
Without it,
time is nothing but a shadow,
fading from history’s grasp.

Padang, West Sumatra
INDONESIA, 2016

/4/

THE ROAD THAT CANNOT RETURN

Poem by Leni Marlina

[PPIPM-Indonesia, Poetry-Pen IC, Indonesian Writer of Satu Pena, Indonesian Creator of AI Era, FSM, ACC SHILA]
★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Step once—
and home is still behind you.
Step twice—
and home is erased.

Step thrice—
and you reach for familiar hands.
Step again—
and find only ashes.

Step forward—
seeking refuge in a place with no doors.
Step once more—
and safety is an illusion whispered by the wind.

This road does not bend.
It does not lead back.
It only drags you deeper
into the hollow arms of exile.

Padang, West Sumatra
INDONESIA, 2016

/5/

WHEN WE ARE SILENT

Poem by Leni Marlina

[PPIPM-Indonesia, Poetry-Pen IC, Indonesian Writer of Satu Pena, Indonesian Creator of AI Era, FSM, ACC SHILA]
★★★★★★★★★★★★★

We are silent.
Because silence does not bleed.

We whisper.
Because whispers slip through prison bars.

We speak.
Because words sharpen like knives.

We shout.
Because only thunder can split the sky.

And then, we rise—
as wind, as storm,
as the clang of empty plates,
as hunger, as fists clenched in rage.

You want us silent.
But the air already carries our voices.
And air cannot be silenced.

Padang, West Sumatra
INDONESIA, 2016

/6/

HISTORY HAS WRITTEN IT

Poem by Leni Marlina

[PPIPM-Indonesia, Poetry-Pen IC, Indonesian Writer of Satu Pena, Indonesian Creator of AI Era, FSM, ACC SHILA]
★★★★★★★★★★★★★

They burned the books.
But words have already melted into the air.

They burned the houses.
But memories have already sunk into the bones of the living.

They burned the city.
But history has carved its name where fire cannot touch.

They thought flames could erase everything.
But fire only knows how to consume—
not how to forget.

And in the end,
they were swallowed by the blaze they had unleashed.

Padang, West Sumatra
INDONESIA, 2016

/7/

THE NAME THAT CANNOT BE ERASED

Poem by Leni Marlina

[PPIPM-Indonesia, Poetry-Pen IC, Indonesian Writer of Satu Pena, Indonesian Creator of AI Era, FSM, ACC SHILA]
★★★★★★★★★★★★★

They tried to erase your name.
Scratched it from the gravestones.
Buried it beneath their ruins.

But your name was already written—
etched by the wind upon the sand,
etched by the rain upon shattered glass,
etched in the voice of a mother who never stopped calling.

They thought a name could vanish.
But how do you kill something that has become the air?
How do you silence an echo?

Take everything from us.
But you will never take our names.

Padang, West Sumatra
INDONESIA, 2016

/8/

IF JUSTICE WERE STONE

Poem by Leni Marlina

[PPIPM-Indonesia, Poetry-Pen IC, Indonesian Writer of Satu Pena, Indonesian Creator of AI Era, FSM, ACC SHILA]
★★★★★★★★★★★★★

They thought we were only pebbles—
scattered, small, breakable beneath their boots.

But stones gather.
Stones rise.
Pebbles become hills.
Hills become mountains.
Mountains move.

One stone can be crushed.
But a mountain cannot be unmade.
One voice can be silenced.
But an echo cannot be stopped.

If justice were stone,
we are the mountain
that will bury them all.

Padang, West Sumatra
INDONESIA, 2016

/9/

YOU ARE STILL HERE

Poem by Leni Marlina

[PPIPM-Indonesia, Poetry-Pen IC, Indonesian Writer of Satu Pena, Indonesian Creator of AI Era, FSM, ACC SHILA]
★★★★★★★★★★★★★

You are still here.
In the hush of wind,
in the breath between prayers,
in the quiet spaces where grief becomes defiance.

They thought they buried you.
But you still rise.

They burned your name.
Yet it still lingers in the mouths of the living.

You are still here.
Not because they allow it,
but because justice does not die.

Padang, West Sumatra
INDONESIA, 2016

/10/

THE LAST STONE

Poem by Leni Marlina

[PPIPM-Indonesia, Poetry-Pen IC, Indonesian Writer of Satu Pena, Indonesian Creator of AI Era, FSM, ACC SHILA]
★★★★★★★★★★★★★

We were hurled into silence,
but silence carved our names in its walls.
We were cast adrift in the river of darkness,
but the waters refused to drown our voices.

We fell onto trembling earth,
becoming scars on the face of civilization.
Yet time would not erase us,
for history still remembers every fracture.

Once, small hands lifted us high,
hurling us against the walls of power.
Now, we stand atop the hill,
the last stone that cannot be broken.

We are not merely stones—
we are tombstones for silence,
markers for what cannot be destroyed.
We do not seek war,
but if justice is forced to retreat,
we will stand at the vanguard—
resounding louder than the hammer,
sharper than the night,
scarier than the fear.

Beneath a sky heavy with sorrow,
upon a land that refuses to forget,
we remain,
stronger than the history they wish to erase.

Padang, West Sumatra
INDONESIA, 2016

/11/

AT THE FINAL POINT

Poem by Leni Marlina

[PPIPM-Indonesia, Poetry-Pen IC, Indonesian Writer of Satu Pena, Indonesian Creator of AI Era, FSM, ACC SHILA]
★★★★★★★★★★★★★

At the edge of civilization,
where words are no longer mere echoes
but footprints that refuse to fade,
there—poetry builds its body:
stone, blood, wind,
and embers that cannot be extinguished.

You may burn the paper,
but not the ink that has become a river.
You may silence the voice,
but not the echo that crosses all borders.
You may tear down the house,
but not the memory that dwells within it.

For poetry is not just lines and verses,
not merely ink upon the quiet page.
It is the current that drowns deceit,
the blade that carves through injustice,
the hand that seizes the future
and inscribes it with fire.

So,
when the world turns to ash once more,
when history repeats its wounds,
one thing will still remain:
poetry written in defiance,
and a voice that will never be buried.

Padang, West Sumatra
INDONESIA, 2016

——‐————————————
This collection of poems (No.1 – 11) was originally written bilingually (English-Indonesia) by Leni Marlina in 2016. The poems were later revisited, revised, and first published digitally in 2025.

Leni Marlina is a celebrated Indonesian poet, writer, and educator whose works explore various themes of resilience, healing, and cultural identity, friendship, religy, natural environment, education, the voice of voiceless. A distinguished member of the literary world, she is affiliated with Indonesian Writer of SATU PENA- Indonesia, Indonesian Creator of AI Era, and the Forum Siti Manggopoh (FSM). Internationally, she is an active member of the ACC Shanghai Huifeng International Literary Association (ACC SHILA), serving as Indonesia’s Poetry Ambassador, and has contributed to the Victoria Writers Association in Australia.

Since 2006, Leni has been a dedicated lecturer in the Department of English Language and Literature at the Faculty of Languages and Arts, Universitas Negeri Padang (UNP), Indonesia. In addition to her academic career, she has also contributed as a columnist and part-time journalist, enriching public discourse with her insights.

Leni’s passion for literature extends beyond her own writing. She has founded and leads several impactful communities and initiatives that focus on language, literature, literacy, and social empowerment. These include:

1. World Children’s Literature Community (WCLC): https://shorturl.at/acFv1
2. Poetry-Pen International Community
3. PPIPM-Indonesia (Pondok Puisi Inspirasi Pemikiran 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
7. Translation Practice Community
8. English Languange Learning, Literacy, Literary Community (EL4C)