Post by thepoetslizard on Oct 10, 2008 16:05:14 GMT 2
Leona Florentino
First published Filipina poet:
tinyurl.com/5jyx9b
tinyurl.com/575kwo
"Blasted Hopes"
(Nalpay A Namnama)
by Leona Florentino
[Translation by M. Foronda, Jr.]
What gladness and what joy
are endowed to one who is loved
for truly there is one to share
all his sufferings and his pain.
My fate is dim, my stars so low
perhaps nothing to it can compare,
for truly I do not doubt
for presently I suffer so.
For even I did love,
the beauty whom I desired
never do I fully realize
that I am worthy of her.
Shall I curse the hour
when first I saw the light of day
would it not have been better a thousand times
I had died when I was born.
Would I want to explain
but my tongue remains powerless
for now do I clearly see
to be spurned is my lot.
But would it be my greatest joy
to know that it is you I love,
for to you do I vow and a promise I make
it’s you alone for whom I would lay my life.
***
Jhoanna Lynn B. Cruz's "Writing Lesbian, Lesbian Writing" - and her search for a Literary Mother
tinyurl.com/5jnqhj
Estrella O. Soria, Romula Basuel, Marcelino Soria, "llokano Women and Ilokano Literature:
Initial Attempts at a Literary History of Ilokano Women Writing in Ilokano"
tinyurl.com/6nfh79
