poetry

Sa 58, Unsa Pay Molukso?
ni Erlinda Kintanar Alburo

(Alang kang Rene, sa Leap Year 2004)

Naa pay daghan dihang naglumpayat.
Pananglitan, ang ulan sa sandayong---
               Ang liso sa iyang bayanan --
               Ang itoy nga nagkiat --
               Ang mananaog sa lumba --
               Ang naghikog diha sa taytayan --
               Si Inday nga mao pay pagkadawat
                         og sulat ni Undo --
               ug ang kilatnong silaw gikan ni Buddha.

Makutlo sad gikan sa mga basahon, anaay duruha:
               Ang baki ni Basho nga milukso
               Human sa dakong kahilom
               Diha sa dakong linaw
               Nagpasiplat sa kalunhawng
               Nakapulpog sa tubigong salamin.
               Unya, naa sad diay si Sleeping Beauty
               Nga nahaigking pagbangon
               Ang iyang mga ngabil ug mata
               Napukaw tungod sa anino
               Sa usa ka malamatong halok.

Apan labaw sa tanan:
               Human sa hamubong hulaw
               Ang pinitik sa akong kasingkasing
               Nagkadagma-dagma
               Kay may balangaw ang imong mga mata
               Bisan karon,
               Labina
               Karon.

 

At 58, What Else May Leap?
Translated by the author

(For Rene at Leap Year 2004)

There's no lack of leaping now.
Why, there's: rain from the gutter --
               seeds from a pod --
               the puppy in play --
               the winner of some race --
               a suicide on the brink of a bridge --
               a girl reading her first love letter --
               and the fleeting lightning from Zen.

From the books, these two I remember:
               Basho's frog jumps
               after a still season --
               the pond's mirror
               flashing green
               breaking into shards ---
               Also, Sleeping Beauty
               springs lightly
               after a century's sleep
               lips and eyes quickening
               at the shadow of a kiss.

But most of all:
               after brief drought
               my heart leaps
               when it beholds
               the rainbow in your eyes
               even now,
               most especially
               now.

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