Kiss this too!

Funny order of things today, I mean tonight, sometime after midnight...
The posting above was written earlier than this one but was kept first as a draft.... Why? To allow this posting to be made in a way more pleasing to the eye just because I don't know how (yet? perhaps yet?) to put two pictures inside a posting and have the text interspersed in between.
So if earlier, I had to break the picture of the "Berpetualang ke Aceh" book into two to make the details more readable, here I have to break the originally-intended posting into two and set the order of publishing of the resulting two postings too so that the front cover would appear on top, the back cover below. Kind of ironic isn't it?...
Anyway, since I have to go through all this trouble, might as well make it worth the time by translating the poem on the cover, a Malay poem I cooked up spontanously almost two years ago when out of the blue I decided to try my hand in designing the book cover on my own and in the process learn how to use Microsoft Paint... So there... And here's the translation -
Woopsie... Now that the back cover has been added to this text, then only I realise, even the original Malay poem is not as readable as it should be because the images posted are in GIF format... Why? Because I tried to download it direct to this blog using the browse option but the result became discoloured... Nay... More than that... Totally blue-coloured.
The other option within my still limited IT knowledge (my learning curve currently is more on the need to use basis) is to resort to Photobucket, that is by downloading the pictures there. The problem is the original JPEG format created using Photoshop did not go down well there so I had to use Paint to convert it to GIF with the result the resolution is compromised... So there.
Anyway, here's the Malay poem at the cover:

Bertahun kembara tak henti-henti,

Mencari erti dan juga diri,

Jiwa sepi menangis sendiri,

Harta dicari tak kesampaian lagi.

Lalu ke Aceh membawa diri,

Harapkan berkat moyang yang 'ali,

Maka asal usul ku telusuri,

Juga sejarah bumi bertuah ini.

Dari Perlak ke Samudera Pasai,

Membawa syiar agama yang asal,

Turun ke Melaka menyambung tali,

Agar Melayu gagah berdiri.

Bumi Aceh bumi para wali,

Di sini asal harta sembunyi,

Galilah balik jati diri,

Agar tercapai hidup abadi.

And here's the English translation made on the spot too...

Ages of travelling and no end in sight,

In search of meaning and understanding the self,

This lonely heart that cries inside,

The treasure yearned still elusive at large.

So went to Aceh looking for solace,

Hoping the dead-ancestors would grant their hand,

Family roots uncovered so goes the quest,

Along with the history of this abundantly blessed land.

From the kingdom of Perlak to Samudera Pasai,

Spreading forth the light of the original faith,

Then to Melaka to extend the chord,

So the Malays can stand tall and proud.

The land of Aceh the land of saints,

The source of hidden treasure is within its gates ,

Let us search back our real and true selves,

So that life everlasting shall we all revel in and taste.

Hopefully, this crude translation is enough to convey the deep meaning immersed in the story present in the book... God Willing! For He alone bestows real understanding...