“Song” ni Jose N. Lansang, “Ambahanun” sa Hiligaynon ni Marcel Milliam

Ambahanun
(utang kay V. Mayakovsky)
Ni Jose M. Lansang

Apang mag-amba ka karun sang kaanyag
Nga dili nagapabilin sa wala’y katubtuban
Matapos ang tanan nga pagtigbaylo
-Makahalanusbo ang akun pagkabalaan.

Sa hulot kalan-an
Supat nga naga-inggat kaangay kay Eba
O kun makutom sa mga pinanid sang hanagub
Nagkamang ako sa akon lungon-

Ako, hilway tulad sang hangin
Ginapakabalaan ang tanan nga nagatindog
Samtang ang bagyo nangharabas sa mga dahing sang mga kahoy
Nga magadutdot lamang sa iyang buhok.

Apang mag-amba ka karun sang kaanyang
Nga dili nagapabilin sa wala’y katubtuban
Matapos ang tanan nga pag tigbaylo
-Makahalanusbo ang akun pag isahanon.

Song
(Debt to V. Mayakovsky)
Jose M. Lansang

Yet sing now of beauty
Which lasts not forever
Through all metamorphoses
-I am terribly holy.

In the Dining Hall
Skin shining like Eve
Or dark with layers of night
I creep into my pall-

I, being free as air
Bless all who stand
As storms ravage leaves of trees
Who’d only nuzzle in her hair-

Yet sing now of beauty
Which lasts not forever
Through all metamorphoses
-I am terribly lonely.

Source: Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Award For Literature: An Anthology of Winning Works
The 1980’s Poetry, p.89.

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.

Litrato ng Manugsalin: Mr. Kerr Alvin R.Lopez Photography

Featured Image by Gen Asenjo: The Ruins (The Mansion of Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson) in Talisay, Negros Occidental.