| poetry
Alagad an aki sa gilid kan daing
sulog
na salog nin ati asin laboy,
maraot daw siya
o igwa pang orog
na maraot saiya?
Ta sa pagsira niya ginagamit an banwit
na sa puro an ngirhat kan sima
na enot na magkukulog sa alulunti
na maglalansi sa sadit na sira
na makukubhanan kan tarom—asin
makurabkutab,
an nguso, nganga, nakatukdo sa langit,
asin ngunyan, an sima sa pag-ultanan
kan hasang asin walang mata—
kagadanan, sa sira,
duwang kagadanan sa alulunti.
Kaherakan an alulunti, romdomon
kun papanong an sadit niyang mata mahiling an
tarom
kan sima kan katapusan niya,
kun pa'nong ini pinirit
sa makipot niyang nguso,
tuminalbong hanggan halanuhan
hanggan sa saiyang tulak. Kun pa'nong
nagpiripit an kolor-rosas niyang hawak,
mahuyo sa tahaw kan lanit, asin tuninong
sa tahaw kan dakulang kaogmahan
kan aking tinataan liwat an banwit
sa laboy kan salog—
para sa ga-palad na karpa,
sarong pintakasi sa pamilya
sa payag sa irarom kan tulay.
Earthworm
(Author's Translation)
The Rock and the sons of Zebedee
are good men, they fish with nets—
for a living—in that lake called sea.
But the boy along the banks of the river
which dirt and silt had made still,
isn’t he wicked
or there’s someone, something
more wicked than he is?
For he catches fish with a line
tipped with a murderous hook
that hurts first the earthworm
that charms the little carp
to a maddening struggle
with its mouth gaped wide
and the hook now in between
its gills and its left eye—
death, for the fish, death,
doubled, for the earthworm.
Pity the earthworm, imagine
how its tiny eyes see the sharpness
of the hook of its own demise,
how the hook is forced
into its tender mouth,
piercing the innocent esophagus,
and into its stomach. How it writhes
its pink segmented body,
gentle amid pain, and silent
amid the excited jubilation
of the boy who carefully lowers the line
into the very murk of the river—
for a palm-sized carp, a feast
for a family of six members
inside a shanty under the bridge.
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