A DIMENSION, OR TWO

Samar-samar saya ingat: prisma akan memisahkan cahaya tampak (visible light) dari matahari menjadi 7 spektrum dengan panjang gelombang yang berbeda-beda. Peristiwa ini disebut dispersi. Perbedaan panjang gelombang mengakibatkan ketujuh spektrum tersebut terlihat memiliki warna yang berbeda-beda bagi mata manusia. Tolong koreksi saya, karena seingat saya titik-titik air di atmosfer setelah hujan juga bertindak seperti prisma, mereka menghamburkan cahaya matahari yang tunggal, menjadi 7 cahaya warna-warni pelangi.


We were walking along a creek, enjoying the sun, sharing secrets, when you bent down and picked something up from the bottom of the creek.
“Look,” you said, “Obsidian?”

I know nothing about stones
but when I held that tiny rock against the sunlight,
I could see that
it dispersed the light
into seven rays.

I looked at you,
shifting the rock in my palm,
holding it against your face,
And I could see that it dispersed
your shadow into seven rays.

“You are seven different people,” I told you.
“No, I’m seven thousand different people,” you laughed.
I noticed one of your rays
looks clearer than the others.
(Only your red ray looks a bit familiar to me. Your other rays look dim, almost invisible. Still I know red isn’t your only ray. There are others, but I can’t see them)

You took the rock
and held it against my face.
“Blue,” you told me.
“All I see is blue,
but I know you have many other rays as well.”
(All this time you show me only your anger, and all this time I show you only my misery.)

We were walking along a creek, enjoying the sun, sharing secrets, when you suddenly stopped and looked at me.
“Excuse me,” you said. “Who are you again?”
(If I’m worth your time, I’ll tell you where I come from. If I am worth your time, I’ll tell you where I’m going.)
“Pardon me,” I said. “But I don’t know you either.”

(In my palm the tiny rock glinted.
I could see many people walking along the creek, and I could see not all of them found their obsidians.
This one must stay, I thought to myself.
This rock tells me the many dimensions you have, and the many dimensions I have.
This rock reminds me of a time a long time ago
When life was easy and happy
When neighour kids knocked my door and asked me to play
And never once said I looked different from them.)

“Throw the useless rock away,” you had said.
“No,” I said simply.
“I want to keep it.
To remind me of you.
To remind me of a person
Who never once looked me in the eye
And never once told me
that I was a freak.”