Sangka manunudlo si Harold L. Mercurio sa Northwest Samar State University sa Calbayog, Samar. Dyang pandemic siday (binalaybay, tula) pakig-istorya na man sa anang bata nga si Dayaw.
Tukwaw
Harold L. Mercurio
San gutiay pa ak’ diri ak’ nahingangaturog pagpininsar san akon minangnuan nga ugang ug siwo sa amon luyo labi kun nasiburog na an tukwaw dida san paghuyop san habagat. Yana nga amay na ak’ mas labi nga di ak’ nahingangaturog san akon ugang ug siwo kay waray pa humuyop an habagat nagtikang na an tukwaw. An ugang madali bilngon, pero an siwo maiha padakuon. Nano na man la an kalipayan san nagmamanukan kun an imo minangnuan mahahanaw sa usa la nga pagpirok san tukwaw? San ginsusurat ko ini nga siday lumahos na usa ka milyon an gintukwaw san Covid sa bug-os nga kalibutan. Lahos na liwat singkwenta kayukot an mga napukan. Diri ak maaram kun may katalwasan. An tukwaw la an naglalarang kun an ugang, siwo o bisan an higot iya igtutubyan.
Abril 4, 2020
Tukwaw
Translation by Donna Barandino
When I was a child I could not sleep thinking of my poultry’s hen and chick in our backyard during the time when tukwaw was fast spreading as the Southwest monsoon started blowing. Now that I am a father the more I could not sleep thinking of my hen and chick since tukwaw begins spreading despite the Southwest monsoon’s silence. The hen is easy to find, but the chick is hard to grow. What consolation awaits for a poultry grower if your fowls vanish in the blink of an eye of tukwaw? When I was writing this poetry the tukwaw cases all over the world caused by Covid-19 passed more than a million already. More than 50,000 as well had succumbed. I do not know if there is a bright tomorrow. Only tukwaw decides whether it’s the hen, the chick or even the rooster it would sacrifice.
April 4, 2020
*Tukwaw means avian flu.
Balay Sugidanun 