By: AlfianNawawi
Li Po is a poet maestro from
Tiongkok. He was a poet of era romance in the midst of war. An era of country
folk used to wear baggy clothes, ride a horse, and bear long machetes. His poem
was written in the forest, in the shop, in the banks of the river, in the
middle of a lake, and also may be in the tree.
Li Po was romantic Taoism who love wine, pretty girl, and nature. Because he had a highly love for the nature, he always floated his poem in the river and he was happy to see the paper go to the distance with the water flow.
It is said that his death history was also full of romance. According to story quoted by SapardiDjokoDamono, Li Po died in the lake because he fell into the water when he was drunk. He wanted to embrace the moon than swam in the lake.
Once time, Li Po wrote a short meaningful poem for Tu Fu, his best friend who was also a poet maestro, entitled “Dear Tu Fu”
Dear Tu Fu
In the mountain I met Tu Fu
Wearing a bamboo hat in the torrid day
Hey, why are you looked very thin?
Are you suffering because of poetry?
The poem expressed that Li Po described Tu Fu’s position in the literature and government using word metaphor “mountain”. At the same time he chaffed Tu Fu’s frail position which needed protection while the empire was in bad situation, full of intrigue and rebellion. The poem might be a Li Po’s care for Tu Fu who had gone to flee and moved away from a warring empire into the thatched roof house of a quite village.
No days, it is hard to find a writer or poet like Li Po. People want their work published by a fabulous publisher. Then, the others are busy becoming participants in caliber writing festival, from local to the international level. No one wants to float his poem to the river.
In the virtual world, the river can be meant a personal blog. It also can be kind of writing platform such as Instastori, Kompasiana, and others.
If you write something on a blog or a site, you will see that people are lazy to click the link, they don’t want to go there. They think it is a “river”. Addition, it will be different if you write directly on a note or wall facebook, a description under the youtube video content, or a short narrative fenced under an instagram photo. Theywill be happybecause they can read the writing without clicking the link, especially when they are in "free mode."(*)
Translator: NurAlang