EVERY morning, Amir Hamzah watched the girl as she rode her bike from the direction of the station toward the Algemene Middelbare School (AMS), Solo, Central Java. Despite his curiosity, Amir did not have the guts to say hello. All he could do was watch the tall, round faced girl from his rented room near the Balapan Train Station.

One morning in 1927 Amir mustered enough courage to say a few words in his poor Javanese. The girl responded and h