Post by thepoetslizard on Oct 10, 2008 16:04:00 GMT 2
Erlinda Kintanar Alburo
Bio from the Panitikan Website
panitikan.com.ph/authors/a/ekalburo.htm
"Sa 58, Unsa Pay Molukso?"
(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.
*
"Patay na tuod si Maria Clara"
Ah, kadto bang nagluspad nga hinigugma
sa linuiban nga si Crisostomo Ibarra?
Matud pa ni Mama kadto siya sulondon
magsigeg kablit sa arpa, manggiulawon
laming motimplag hamonada, hinayon
moamin kada humag nobena, matinahuron
ug unsa pa dihang uban nga mga—un-on
nga karon malisod na natong ispilingon.
Wala na tingali nahibilin rong arpa
ug labihan kamaha; maglutog hamonada
ug unsa to, kalaay ba anang magsisgeg nobena?
Si kinsa lay gusting santosong kay atong paantuson.
Ang kinahanglan sa babaye karon
maalam molalik sa awit nga iyang tukaron,
maabtik mangitag idalit nga sud-anon,
molihok bisag wala pay bendisyon.
Kon naa pa ron si Mama unsa kahay iayng ikasulti?
Nga labaw pang na-anghing kaniya si Maria Clara, mirisi.
"Maria Clara is Dead Indeed"
(Translated by the Author)
Ah, you mean that pale sweetheart
of the betrayed Crisostomo Ibarra?
According to Mama she was a model
always plucking the harp, shy,
cooked delicious ham dishes, somewhat slow,
kissed the elder’s hands after novena, obedient,
and was many other adjectives
that today we find difficult to spell.
Perhaps there’s no more harp left,
it’s expensive to cook a ham dish
and isn’t it boring to always pray the novena?
Let whoever want to be a saint suffer/
What a woman needs now
is to compose the song she will play,
be quick to fins the food she’ll serve,
proceed even without a blessing.
If Mama were still alive what would she say?
That Maria Clara is deader than she is, a pity.
(From Sinug-ang, Women in the Literary Arts Inc., Cebu City, 1999)
*
"Sa Pagtungtong Nakog Singkwenta"
(Ang katunga sa mga tradisyunal nga balak
bahin man sa nagkalain-laing pagkapulak
ug sa pagwanglawos sa kanhi pulang mga bulak.
Karon kay puol-puol na ang samang pagpamulong
mangita gyud kon gbag-ong ikabudyong
samtang naghulat kanus-a motikungkong.)
Tinuod, kini diyang moabut og kalim-an
magsugod nagbalikbalik ang sud-an
kay daghan nang ginadilinglami-an.
Hait paminawon ang elektrik nga gitara
kay lagi na-anad ta sa huning Frank Sinatra
ug tungod kay promdi gimingaw sa karaang arpa.
Sa buntag modungaw samtang bag-ong mata
buot motugpa ang panan-aw sa lunhawang akasya
kanang walang masangit sa habog nga karatula.
Inigkagabii pod mohanggap unta sa sampaguita
sama ba adtong mibangaw sa kang Mamang arkada
apan unsa nang baho-a, di nauban ba nga serbesa?
Alang kanako, layo pa kaayong baklayon
ang dalan padulong sa Loyolang lungon
mangaway pa kog kinsay maayong sulngon:
Ga-i ko dihag dili makakanser nga hamonada
padungga kuno kog mananoyng Ave Maria
unya tamni kog malandong nga banaba
ug sa dili pa ko mopiyong, patagamtama
intawon kon unsay lami anang marijuana.
"On Reaching the Age of Fifty"
Translated by the Author
(Half of the traditional poems
are about different ways of falling
and the withering of once crimson flowers.
Now that those discourses are tiring
I’m looking for some new things to be noisy about
while waiting them to curl up)
True, once the age of fifty comes
certain foods keep returning
because the delicious many are forbidden.
The electric guitar hurts
if one’s used to Frank Sinatra’s singing
and if from the province, she’ll long for the old harp/
In the morning at waking I look out the window
my eyes wanting to alight on the green acacia tree
one that doesn’t snag on a high billboard.
At night too I want to breathe in sampaguita
like those forming a rainbow arch at Mama’s
but what foul smell instead is that, of beer burning?
For me, it’s still a long walk
down the road to a coffin of Loyola
I’ll still pick a quarrel with whoever I can say these to:
Give me some noncancerous hamonada
let me hear a sweet Ave Maria
then plant for me a shady banaba
and before o close my eyes, let me savor
please, the taste of marijuana.
[Note:*Banaba – tree with lilac or pink flowers]
(From Sinug-ang, Women in the Literary Arts Inc., Cebu City, 1999)
