What More Do You Seek, My Friend?: Poems Collection by Leni Marlina (PPIPM-Indonesia)

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What More Do You Seek, My Friend?

Poem by Leni Marlina

What more do you seek, my friend?
Not mere shadows of time
teaching us to fold the night,
but the secret pulse
in the universe’s hollow—
where a falling star is not beauty,
but a fragile fracture
that unveils the void.

Your steps are paradoxes:
you tread on boundless earth
while building a labyrinth.
Your life’s corridors resemble riddles,
answers unwelcome.
Your words are not mere letters,
but fossils cradling
a timeworn train—
leading us back
to where we first breathed
and met this world.

Your history, my friend, is no stone carving,
but a wild current
flowing beneath a city of a thousand names.
At times, you’re but dust
drifting aimlessly,
yet from every grain,
a tiny universe blooms
within hearts almost losing their form.

Friend, they often ask,
What is goodness, love, compassion?
Perhaps only echoes
in the corridor of void,
or embers
that never extinguish,
even submerged in a thousand nights.
Only those who’ve embraced the dark
know how you kiss the light.

Friend, you’re no dawn chaser—
you are the shock
that rips through the night,
carving a rift
for the sun to ponder:
Am I ready to rise?

You do not write the world;
you burn it into ashes.
And from those ashes,
you forge wings anew,
their hues unrecognizable
to ordinary eyes.

Your works are layered riddles,
a labyrinth within a labyrinth.
They need no reader;
they have transcended,
becoming mirrors—
reflecting any soul
brave enough to gaze deeply.

What more do you seek, my friend?
Silent satisfaction,
like waves
secretly weaving the shore,
or perhaps just silence,
silence devouring the world
until nothing remains
but poetry.

And thus you paint life, my friend—
not with colors,
but with empty space,
where anyone may inscribe themselves,
be lost within, and be reborn anew.
I am proud and deeply moved by you, my friend.

Canberra, Australia, 2012

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Nothing Lasts Forever in This World

Poem by Leni Marlina

Rain falls in a secret language,
knocking on the window of time, now weathered.
You stand in the doorway,
tracing the air thick with memories.
But, my friend, nothing lasts forever in this world—
even rainbows fade before night arrives.

Look at the leaves scattered along the path;
they whisper of time slipping away.
The wind carries them far,
to places where all that is loved
becomes dust and stories.

We grasp each day as if it were sand,
slipping through our fingers,
yet still, we try—
to weave eternity from fragile traces.
What do we leave behind, my friend,
if everything is but shadows
dancing on the walls of twilight?

Even mountains eventually crumble,
the sea loses its borders,
stars fall into darkness
with no promise to return.
Yet amidst the ruins,
there is something unspeakable,
like the glow of a candle in a long night.

We do not live to be eternal
but to become.
To become a faint light in the vast dark ocean,
a gentle voice within the roaring storm,
a bridge
spanning the chasms of loss.

Nothing lasts forever in this world,
but your steps can still shake the earth.
Nothing endures,
but your love can carve stars
into the sky of wounded souls.

And when the final wind whispers,
erasing your traces from the sand,
let them know this:
you once existed,
like rain touching the earth—
leaving behind the fragrance of life.

Canberra, Australia, 2012

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Eyes That Never Close

Poem by Leni Marlina

You, the keeper of silence,
what do you see across the light?
Not shadows, not forms,
but echoes—
voices traversing the valleys of time,
whispering secrets no one dares to hear.

In nights that embrace the earth with dark blankets,
your eyes remain unclosed.
You weave stars from tears,
stitch wounds into a canvas,
where every line bears the trace
of a heart that never ceases to tremble.

The sky never asks why
you linger there,
holding darkness as if it were a candle,
shaping worlds unimaginable.
But you know:
light is born from silence,
and meaning emerges from emptiness.

My friend, is there a world you seek?
Or are you the world itself,
flowing without borders,
filling the spaces time has left behind?

Your steps are like melodies transcending ages,
stirring souls adrift in doubt.
You never chase the dawn,
because you are the light
guiding those blinded by uncertainty.

The wind carries your name,
but never speaks it.
For you are not a name;
you are a story,
hidden among fallen leaves,
within the earth that pulses with life.

You are the eyes that never close,
a guardian of the night birthing the day,
demanding no applause.
The world knows you in its silence,
where your presence becomes a language
needing no words.

So walk on, weaver of light,
through the dark corridors you claim as canvas.
For only you know how to turn wounds into rainbows,
and silence into the strength of the heart.

Canberra, Australia, 2012

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Eyes That Never Close

Poem by Leni Marlina

You, the keeper of silence,
what do you see across the light?
Not shadows, not forms,
but echoes—
voices traversing the valleys of time,
whispering secrets no one dares to hear.

In nights that embrace the earth with dark blankets,
your eyes remain unclosed.
You weave stars from tears,
stitch wounds into a canvas,
where every line bears the trace
of a heart that never ceases to tremble.

The sky never asks why
you linger there,
holding darkness as if it were a candle,
shaping worlds unimaginable.
But you know:
light is born from silence,
and meaning emerges from emptiness.

My friend, is there a world you seek?
Or are you the world itself,
flowing without borders,
filling the spaces time has left behind?

Your steps are like melodies transcending ages,
stirring souls adrift in doubt.
You never chase the dawn,
because you are the light
guiding those blinded by uncertainty.

The wind carries your name,
but never speaks it.
For you are not a name;
you are a story,
hidden among fallen leaves,
within the earth that pulses with life.

You are the eyes that never close,
a guardian of the night birthing the day,
demanding no applause.
The world knows you in its silence,
where your presence becomes a language
needing no words.

So walk on, weaver of light,
through the dark corridors you claim as canvas.
For only you know how to turn wounds into rainbows,
and silence into the strength of the heart.

Canberra, Australia, 2012

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My Friend, the Wanderer

Poem by Leni Marlina

My friend, I see you among the shadows,
carrying a longing for something nameless.
Your steps are like fallen leaves,
dancing without direction,
yet always landing in the perfect place.

You are more than just a traveler;
you are the wind bearing the scent of distant soil.
In your eyes, stories remain unfinished,
full of riddles, full of silence.
What more must you find, my friend?
Perhaps not answers,
but mirrors that reflect your own soul.

You once said, “Life is not a destination.”
And I understood:
you are a river,
flowing without waiting,
forgetting the banks,
embracing the ocean with unconditional love.

My friend, wanderer without a map,
your footprints are prayers
left in the earth.
Your steps draw the circles of fate,
unreadable to many eyes.

Yet look, the world listens to you.
In the stillness of night,
stars gather above your head,
as if they wish to witness
your courage against the fleeting.

Fear not the passage of time, my friend.
You do not belong to it.
You are a song,
resonating still
even when the strings lose their voice.

Keep walking,
for you are not just searching;
you are creating new paths
for those who have lost their way.
And though you may wander astray,
your footprints are lanterns
for souls awaiting the light.

Canberra, Australia, 2012

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Short Biography

This collection of poems was originally written by Leni Marlina as a personal hobby and part of her private poetry collection in 2012, during her Master’s program in Writing and Literature in Australia, funded by an Indonesian government scholarship. The poems were later revised and gradually began to be published digitally for the first time in January 2025.

Currently, Leni is an active member of the Indonesian Writers Association (SATU PENA), West Sumatra branch, since its establishment in 2022, as well as the Indonesian AI Era Creators Community. She is also an active member of the ACC International Poets and Writers Community in Shanghai, and serves as the Indonesian Poetry Ambassador for ACC Shanghai Huifeng International Literary Association. Additionally, she has been involved with the Victoria Writers’ Association in Australia. Since 2006, she has dedicated herself as a lecturer in the English Language and Literature Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, Universitas Negeri Padang.

Leni Marlina has also founded and chaired several social, literary, and linguistic communities, utilizing digital platforms, 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
7. Translation Practice Community
8. English Languange Learning, Literacy, Literary Community (EL4C)