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Elaine Mok

<parku nteh nomi>

<park with no name>

by Elaine Mok


Ki korsang kureh na isti frumingga

na rentu di chang di jenti grandi?


Ki lembransa fikah na akeli albi

keng teng mas anu di nos?


Yo nteh korsang nteh lembransa

kiora ta santah naki


justu ta aspirah kung tudu

chuma eli kung eli.


Yo sa kabesa bazidu

na isti parku nteh nomi.

 

What feelings course through this ant

in the land of giants?


What thoughts reside in that tree

who surpasses us by so many years?


I possess neither feeling nor thought

when I am sitting here


I only breathe with them all

like the tree and the ant


My head empty

in this park with no name.

 

Elaine studanti papiakisa kengsa familia di Singapura, Indonesia kung Hong Kong. Si bos kontah stori na eli, eli logu partih ungua otru kung bos. Pun, eli ngkontrah buniteza kung signifikadu na angkoza keninu, from ila keninu to linggu kung mpoku papianti. Eli sperah linggu kung kultura Kristang logu kodrah kung kriseh.


Elaine (she/her) is a linguistics student whose roots span Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong. If you tell her a story, she’ll tell you another one in return. She finds beauty and meaning in small things, from tiny islands to languages with few speakers. She hopes that the Kristang language and culture will continue to awaken and grow.

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