A LONG PATH OF MANY EYES

By Idris Pasaribu
Editor of culture Analisa newspapers

The Sadness Song, an anthology from Doel CP Allisah. He is a faithful poet in art. This Aceh poet is well known for some of media, especially in Medan. His poems were published by the media in Medan and also the newspapers in Aceh.

From a million poets in Aceh, Doel CP Allisah is the one of poets who always write poems and send them to the newspapers in Medan, especially to art and culture staff of Medan Analisa Newspaper, until now. Since 1980 his poems were loaded in each page of Waspada and Analisa newspapers and other media in Medan, and in Banda Aceh. They were also loaded in some of anthologies. They were loaded in an anthology The Silent Song, an anthology of Aceh poet that describes about tsunami in Aceh.

The Sadness Song has 103 poems that he wrote in more than 15 years are loaded in this book. He has traveled so many places and defined them in his poems. All his poems are so romantic and adorable for the reader. Such as One Evening When We Through the Seulawah Bevel with a Frightening Silent the Morning, Doel wrote:

No, the rain was not here
When the slums were sleeping in silent
Or the smell of hay burnt
Cause in a moment we have never remembered it
Even though it was a memory
The heart has been closed so far
Ah, or we were wrong?

What romantic sense of Seulawah bevel. To remember the Seulawah bevel he wrote and defined it into his poem. It is an unforgettable memory of his life.

The poems that he wrote in his long journey are On the Lau Sidebuk-debuk’s Street, The Landscape of Sabang, Meugo, Teunom, Once Upon a Time in the Tasteless Sea, Blok M, Banda Aceh, Tangse, An Evening in Bandung, At the Corner of Cilegon, When I was Dreaming in Rotterdam, An Evening in Cianjur, The Predawn Configuration of Langsa, Miwah River, Sigli My Tender Age Town One in a Time, Sembahe, A Morning Monolog of Karnchanawanich Road, In Narathiwat Fantasy, Under The Panorama Lhok Geulumpang, At a Side of Malaka’s Strait, A Predawn at the Sabang’s Bay, the Predawn of Kuala Lumpur, Ulee Lhueue (The Rotation of Time), Through the Tahura Bukit Barisan One in a Time and Ulee Kareng.

He wrote his romantic poems from those places. He got a lot of beauty from those places. He saw the beauty with his positive mind. Doel, through his poems can bring the reader into his memory.

Doel CP Allisah never forgets the beloved people and his friends, mostly his family. If Amir Hamzah was standing behind the window of his father’s castle at Tanjung Pura Langkat and staring at the Java Island recalling a beautiful girl there, same as Doel, he was also staring at the heart and mind of people in his life. Some of his poems are dedicated to his family and friends.

In the poem of Putroe Phang physically there is no relationship between Doel and the wife of Sultan Iskandar Muda. Even he never meets her. But he saw and felt her with his mind and described a love of Sultan Iskandar Muda to his wife, a princess from Pahang, Malaya (Malaysia), and he also built a white castle named Gunongan. A place where the princess stayed all day long to recall her family in Pahang.

The princess was died hundred years ago however Doel CP Allisah could feel her longs for her family in Pahang, also his long of the princess. The other poems also define about beloved people in his life, such as, Renggali oh Renggali, Tik 6, A Poem for Father, My Lady’s Poem, In the Silent of Sibayak’s Night, The Sadness Song of My Lady, Georgia Linda, Nonlis in My Poem-1, Teungku Paya Bakong si Teungku Seupot Mata, You 1, Hasyim KS 51 Years Old, You 4, The Sadness song, For Doel, The Farewell Poem, Nonlis in My Poem 2, Elis in the 31st Year, The Silent Ritus for Nani, Nonlis in My Poem 3, Remembering You, My Brother, Under the Panorama of Lhok Geulumpang, De 1, For My Little Cordelia, De 2, The Scent of Flower in May, About Ning 2, About the Willingness, The Memory 1, A Wedding Song, About My Best Friend Nurdin, The Sorrowful Song 1, The Sorrowful Song 2, For Sarah as the Dancer, Nonlis in My Poem 4, For Puan Agustinne, The Memory 2 dan About My Grandmother Sitijam.

Doel CP Allisah really loves his hometown, The Land of Rencong. It shows in some of his poems that express his fears and pain from horrible event such as DOM in Aceh. He also defines about the misery of tsunami that has happened in Aceh. Remembering You, My Brother and A Terror Song, are two poems that describe about DOM in Aceh. Doel wrote:

Remembering you, my brother
What I thought were the laughter of evils
Which unfold the bowels of the looser?
Or the pain of our mothers
Who perforce to give their bodies?
Mastered by the specter team


The memory 1, the beach, the memory 2 and others, are poems that tear his mind. Besides him, we also can feel the misery of tsunami, even for the people who have never been there. Doel believes that the tsunami was a plan from god and life is a destiny. That is why he wrote those some of religious poems, such as Tadarus Meunasah Papeun, The Shalawat for Rasul, Sound of Baiturrahman, Moon of a Thousand Month, and About My Grandmother Sitijam.

How far a stork flies it will come back to a wallow that is an old Malay aphorism. How far he goes Doel will always love his hometown. He sings a sad song, of a silent rhyme in pain.

If we read all of his poems in this book which are written by Doel CP Allisah, we will figure it out, why did he choice The Sadness Song as the title of this book ? The reason is because all of his poems define the sadness. Besides they are also melancholy and romantic. These romantic poems define the mind relations of human being. Doel wrote about people, nature and romance.

We can get a romantic sense from all his poems but in fact Doel is not a sissy poet. No ! That is so wrong. Doel reveals the beauty of love between human beings and universe. We will not see the sarcasm, revenge or hates of his mind. In other way, he brings the reader to feel and think about some of previous events so we can be a good person in the future.

Doel is the one of Aceh poet who really loves his ancestor land. That is where he was born as a human and an adorable poet.

Medan, April 1, 2007