Dance by Fadzilah Amin

Hi lovely peoples,

Who is Fadzilah Amin?

Fadzilah Amin is one of the Malaysian poet. Her name was stated in Dr. Malachi Edwin Vethamani's Bibliography of Malaysian Literature in English (page 47)

One of the famous poem by Fadzilah Amin is her poem, Dance.

DANCE 
By FADZILAH AMIN
We are like partners in the ronggeng,
Approaching nearer, nearer, nearer;
But just when one would think we’d meet at last,
We turn away, reverse our steps, withdraw.
And like the ronggeng too, my life seems now,
With steps mechanical, repeated, meaningless;
Arms swinging back and forth, expressing nothing,
Feet pacing up and down the floor, going nowhere.
I am tired of going through these ronggeng motions,
Long to break this impasse of reserve;
If only at one point our hands would clasp,
What rich variety of movement and gesture could be ours.

The poem describes a relationship which has broken down in some way; the two people involved are not separated, but they do not seem to be communicating with each other. They come almost to the point of confronting each other and speaking, touching each other emotionally, but then at the last moment turn away from each other.