Nagtago Kita Sangka Garapon nga Yabi
Nagtago kita sangka garapon nga yabi
sa nakalimtan nga papag
sa balay.
Anano man nga mga puertahan ang ila maabrihan,
O kun anong nasarad-an ang ila sa gihapon natrangkahan
bag-o, nga sing akisdente lamang
o kun sing higayun nga sila nasapwan sa atun garapon,
wala gid natun matul-iran.
“Baya-i lang da sila,”
siling mo, ang mga mata mo nagatulok sa akon
nga nagasiling, kuhaa ang tanan nga may yara ako.
Sanglit ginpadayun ta ikaw
sa pakipag-ambit sa akun gamay nga punsyon
kag wala ka man maila maghalin,
naghando ako, “Huo, dira, sila magapabilin.”
Wala gid natun mamulalungan kung paano
pagapanipison sang mga tinuig ang gugma.
Kag karun ang imo may kasakit nga mga mata
ginalaghap sa akun nawong ang tanan
nga dili ko dapat gin-angkon, kag ako,
ako nagpasakit para sa tanan nga dapat ko ginhanago.
Atun ginlagubo ang mga ganhaan sang kahibon,
nabagrisan sang mga tinaga nga indi naton masambit.
Paano ta gin panghuna-huna
nga wala kita pagkinahanglan sang mga yabi?
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We Kept a Jarful of Keys
by Merlie Alunan
We kept a jarful of keys
on a forgotten shelf
in the house.
What doors they opened,
or what they kept forever locked,
before they came by accident
or chance into our little jar,
we never learned.
“Let them stay there,”
you said, your eyes on mine
saying, take all I have.
Since I had let you into share my little feast
and you’d not wish to leave,
I nodded, “Yes, there let them stay.”
We hadn’t reckoned how
the years would wear love thin.
And now your pained eyes
search my face for all
I shouldn’t have taken, and I,
I ache for all I should have kept.
We hammer the doors of silence,
bruising with words we could not speak.
How did we ever think
we had no need of keys?
From http://merliealunan.blogspot.com/2006/09/we-kept-jarful-of-keys.html
Marcel L. Milliam (Luis Batchoy) is a writer in Hiligaynon from Iloilo City, Philippines. His works have been published in various publications in the country and he has enjoyed numerous writing workshop fellowships. He has received awards for his writings including the International Meritage Press Prize for his poetry and a Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature for his short story in Hiligaynon. He is a member of writing groups in the region, including the Dagyang Pulong Writer’s Group, and is a founding Chairman of the Yanggaw: The Capiz Writer’s Circle, also sitting as the Chair for the Committee on Literary Arts of the Capiz Council for Culture and Arts. He is a freelance theater actor and an LGBT Advocate. On off times, he likes sipping brewed coffee and puffing cigarettes with or without the company of his good friends.
This is his favorite Alunan poem. He chose to translate this to make it available in the language. Since the poet is also a Visayan, he hopes she approves this translation.
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Litrato ng Manugsalin: Mr. Kerr Alvin R.Lopez Photography
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