To Cry for Your Homeland

To Cry for Your Homeland/

Tapno Ibitam ti Daga a Nakayanakan

 

1.

Today, you watched The Debut

And you cried for your homeland.

It is so far out there in the memory

Seven thousand miles away

Of worlds swirling, sterile and haunting

The letters of your country

Bearing no address no addressee

But words of regret for leaving

And then losing the chance

To touch the warmth of her absence.

 

Ita, binuyam ti The Debut

Ket inibitam ti daga a nakayanakan.

Adayo daytoy iti lagip

Milia a pito ribo a kaadayo

Dagiti lubong a puligos a puligos,

Lupes ken mangar-araria

Kadagiti surat ti pagilian

Awanan mangibuson awanan mangawat

Ngem dagiti balikas a panagbabawi iti ipapanaw

Tapno laeng mapukaw ti tiansa

A mangapiras iti darang ti panaglanganna.

 

2.

The emotions come confused

As you think of green leaves falling

While the young grow old in strange

Foliage of dialect and diction

Their dreams a dire dictum moving

To where the westerly winds surrender

To the full moon, its light

Spiraling low and low

In the free fall of a midnight

Of estranged self in solitude

Of generations the future has no hold

No virtue for what comes a hundredfold

And yet, and yet, here you are

In this stronghold of this newness of old,

Leaving soon in the earnestness

Of the morning’s early hours to roost.  

 

 

Agsidunget dagiti rikna

Iti panagpanunot kadagiti agruros a berde a bulong

Idinto a dagiti naganus agbanagda a natangkenan

Karkarna a panagrukbos iti dialekto ken bengngat

Dagiti tagainepda nakakaskas-ang a kassaba

Nga agkamang a sumuko kadagiti pul-oy nga abagat

Iti kannag, iti karayrayan a silawna

Agbalinsuek nga agpabpababa, agpabpababa

Iti nawayas a pannakaikarasukos iti kaltaang

Dagiti naiwawa a bagi iti panagmaymaysa

Kadagiti henerasion ti masakbayan nga awanan pateg

Awanan birtud iti sumangbay a ginasut

Ket nupay kasta, nupay kasta, addaka ita ditoy

Iti daytoy a puerta ti kabaruanan ti un-unana a panawen

Dandanin pumanaw iti regget

Tapno agapon kadagiti nasakbay nga oras ti bigat.

 

 A. Solver Agcaoili

Hon, HI/Jan 10/09

 

Pictures on the walls

Betty Suson shows a photographer a picture of her daughter Marites Suson next to a notice board where pictures of missing passengers of the capsized ferry, MV Princess of Stars, are being posted at the Sulpicio Lines Passenger Terminal building in Cebu City, Central Philippines June 23, 2008. (Vic Kintanar - PHILIPPINES/Reuters)

A List of the Missing

Anxious relatives of passengers feared trapped inside capsized passenger ferry Princess of the Stars check a survivor's list posted outside the Sulpicio Lines terminal in the port area of Manila June 24, 2008. Divers circled a ferry in the central Philippines on Tuesday looking for bodies as hope faded for around 800 people still missing after the vessel capsized in a typhoon. REUTERS/Cheryl Ravelo

Telling His Ordeal

passenger ferry, the MV Princess of Stars, tells of his ordeal during a Reuters interview at the police station in San Fernando town, Romblon province, central Philippines June 23, 2008. (Romeo Ranoco/Reuters)

The Brother Will Come To Remember Her

Alaysa Caranoo holds a photo of her brother, who was on board the capsized ferry MV Princess of Stars, while waiting with relatives for the latest information outside the office of Sulpicio Lines in the port area of Manila June 23, 2008.(John Javellana/Reuters)

Ghostly Presence on the Waters

A rescue helicopter flies over while Philippine coast guard divers sail on a rubber boat beside the capsized ferry MV Princess of Stars, off Sibuyan island, central Philippines June 24, 2008. Divers found ghostly white bodies floating head up inside a sunken passenger ferry in the central philippines on Tuesday raising fears of a mass grave below the waves. Divers found ghostly white bodies floating head up inside the sunken passenger ferry on Tuesday raising fears of a mass grave below the waves. The ferry had over 800 people on board when it capsized and flipped over in huge swells off the coast of Sibuyan island when Typhoon Fengshen hit on Saturday. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco (PHILIPPINES)

Waiting for Father

Angel Kate Laurente, 4, holds a picture of her father Jomer, who was a crew member of the capsized ferry, MV Princess of Stars, during an interview with local media at a sports center in Cebu City, central Philippines June 24, 2008. Divers found ghostly white bodies floating head up inside the sunken passenger ferry on Tuesday raising fears of a mass grave below the waves. The ferry had over 800 people on board when it capsized and flipped over in huge swells off the coast of Sibuyan island when Typhoon Fengshen hit on Saturday.REUTERS/Victor Kintanar (PHILIPPINES)