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Description
I
There was a tale once, about a lake and an isle
Where children and men took respites for awhile
And everywhere it was laughter and joy and hushed whispers of trees
The lake and the isle was somewhere people went to be free

Until the day came the men with monsters of steel, the hard-eyed killers of trees
And soon the lake and isle were but mere stories, buried under concrete and money
Yet sometimes people would see a fleeting glimpse of water, sounds of laughter gay and ghostly
And they said it was a wraith, or the land simply remembering wistfully

For there was a tale once, about a lake and an isle
All forgotten and gone, unless we remember it for awhile

II
And there was once (and still is) a blue lady fair
Of a forgotten kingdom she was princess, goddess, and heir

You could feel it in the air as she comes, and the two tigers beside her proud and tall
Her light is of the purest blue, her staff of slender bamboo shell
And for years upon years she stood guard upon things that would fall
A circle of seven, three, two, and finally only one well

Do not ask me what she will do once the last well too, perishes
For although the lady is gentle and kind
Her wrath is as that of nature – and those knows not of forgiveness
Of this, you will have to keep in mind

III
In the corner of a busy city piece stood a tower
Nestled amongst gentle green hills, it was the last of its kind
For other had fallen to time and man, and amongst its lines the city no longer held water
Amongst the jumble and the chatter, the hills are the last pieces of calm you can find

The mountains softly laments, for to the hills here they are sisters and mother
The lines are dry, and soon the city would unravel, unwind
For on the corner of a busy city piece stood a tower
And the gentle green hills lamented too, that it was the last of its kind

IV
And the colorful walls down under, once paved a bathing place filled with wonders
And deep between its flanking hills over yonder
Pure water gushed down from a spring, guarded by a serpent who’s also a mother
With her children, the hills they nurtured and kept watch over

Yet men are men, and wonders are naught to last forever
They took the land, the water, the hills and the laughter, and left all barren – like a slaughter
Perhaps one day the earth here would simply stop yielding water.
For one day all the serpents would be gone, and even then none would be the wiser.

One out of a series of poster for my forever work-in-progress comic project ‘Bandung : Whispers in a City’, which deals with the city of Bandung in Indonesia and its layers of memories, whether they are historical or mystical. The places and characters in the picture and the poem (respectively the former Situ Aksan, Dewi Kentring Manik or the ‘blue lady’, the water reservoir on Jl. Setiabudhi, and the former Tjihampelas swimming pool) would each be featured in short stories inside the comic.

I feel Bandung as a city has very close ties with water. Hell, it was once a great big lake in a mountain basin But not only that, the people of olden day Bandung had this connection with water, there used to be countless situ (lakes) and rivers that were part of everyone’s everyday life. Now, well , most of the places and characters in this picture are either demolished, made into real estates, parking lots, waiting for imminent destruction, or just plain forgotten. Go figure. Bandung as a city is forgetting and losing its ties with the waterways that are once so dear to it. Which is sort of, you know, sad .

So yeah, let’s remember, let’s help others remember. Cities are alive and it’s home for many other beings beside us humans.

Description
I
There was a tale once, about a lake and an isle
Where children and men took respites for awhile
And everywhere it was laughter and joy and hushed whispers of trees
The lake and the isle was somewhere people went to be free

Until the day came the men with monsters of steel, the hard-eyed killers of trees
And soon the lake and isle were but mere stories, buried under concrete and money
Yet sometimes people would see a fleeting glimpse of water, sounds of laughter gay and ghostly
And they said it was a wraith, or the land simply remembering wistfully

For there was a tale once, about a lake and an isle
All forgotten and gone, unless we remember it for awhile

II
And there was once (and still is) a blue lady fair
Of a forgotten kingdom she was princess, goddess, and heir

You could feel it in the air as she comes, and the two tigers beside her proud and tall
Her light is of the purest blue, her staff of slender bamboo shell
And for years upon years she stood guard upon things that would fall
A circle of seven, three, two, and finally only one well

Do not ask me what she will do once the last well too, perishes
For although the lady is gentle and kind
Her wrath is as that of nature – and those knows not of forgiveness
Of this, you will have to keep in mind

III
In the corner of a busy city piece stood a tower
Nestled amongst gentle green hills, it was the last of its kind
For other had fallen to time and man, and amongst its lines the city no longer held water
Amongst the jumble and the chatter, the hills are the last pieces of calm you can find

The mountains softly laments, for to the hills here they are sisters and mother
The lines are dry, and soon the city would unravel, unwind
For on the corner of a busy city piece stood a tower
And the gentle green hills lamented too, that it was the last of its kind

IV
And the colorful walls down under, once paved a bathing place filled with wonders
And deep between its flanking hills over yonder
Pure water gushed down from a spring, guarded by a serpent who’s also a mother
With her children, the hills they nurtured and kept watch over

Yet men are men, and wonders are naught to last forever
They took the land, the water, the hills and the laughter, and left all barren – like a slaughter
Perhaps one day the earth here would simply stop yielding water.
For one day all the serpents would be gone, and even then none would be the wiser.

One out of a series of poster for my forever work-in-progress comic project ‘Bandung : Whispers in a City’, which deals with the city of Bandung in Indonesia and its layers of memories, whether they are historical or mystical. The places and characters in the picture and the poem (respectively the former Situ Aksan, Dewi Kentring Manik or the ‘blue lady’, the water reservoir on Jl. Setiabudhi, and the former Tjihampelas swimming pool) would each be featured in short stories inside the comic.

I feel Bandung as a city has very close ties with water. Hell, it was once a great big lake in a mountain basin But not only that, the people of olden day Bandung had this connection with water, there used to be countless situ (lakes) and rivers that were part of everyone’s everyday life. Now, well , most of the places and characters in this picture are either demolished, made into real estates, parking lots, waiting for imminent destruction, or just plain forgotten. Go figure. Bandung as a city is forgetting and losing its ties with the waterways that are once so dear to it. Which is sort of, you know, sad .

So yeah, let’s remember, let’s help others remember. Cities are alive and it’s home for many other beings beside us humans.