ROBERT FROST: But I Have Promises to Keep, Miles to Go before I Sleep
Menyukai sebuah karya sangatlah subyektif. Misalnya, Stopping by Woods on a Snowing Evening karya Robert Frost.
Mungkin saja kita menyukai puisi yang sama. Tapi cara puisi itu tersampaikan hingga memesona kita belum tentu sama. Hebatnya, universalitas seperti kesederhanaan, kedalaman kesan yang tersampaikan sering menghapus ketidaksamaan itu.
Puisi ini, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening adalah satu dari beberapa puisi Robert Frost yang saya sukai.
Bukan saja bahasanya yang sederhana, tetapi kesederhanan itu sendiri dilukiskan dengan cerdas oleh baris-baris dalam puisi. Alam pedesaan yang teduh dan nyaman digambarkan dengan indah dan menyentuh, membuat siapa saja betah berlama-lama menikmatinya.
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
- Robert FrostWhose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen flake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sounds the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
But I have promises to keep // And miles to go before I sleep. Penutupan yang indah sekaligus menyayat. Sesungguhnya "aku" masih ingin berlama-lama, menikmati keindahan yang tersaji di depan mata. Sayangnya masih ada janji, ada keperluan yang harus ditunaikan, sedang perjalan yang harus ditempuh masih jauh.
Puisi Robert Frost lainnya yang saya sukai adalah The Road Not Taken. Dua baris pertama langsung memikat saya:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
Ini lengkapnya:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
Ini lengkapnya:
The Road Not Taken
- Robert FrostTwo roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet, knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Ada banyak tulisan dan ulasan atas karya-karya Robert Frost. Karya-karyanya memang laik mendapat tempat terhormat dalam khazanah sastra dunia.
Robert Frost, Robert Lee Frost, penyair besar Amerika. Lahir 1874, wafat 1963 pada usia 88 tahun. Sebagian besar karyanya menggambarkan kehidupan pedesaan. Ia memenangkan penghargaan Pulitizer sebanyak empat kali. Puisi-puisinya yang terkenal al : Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Mending Wall, The Road Not Taken.
Bacaan: