TO A WOMAN POET
DYING IMMORTAL
yesterday I had a talk
with an old man
who had your eyes
The same laughing squint
hiding a watchfulness
that catches even hints
Of rainbows
-poem to her comrade
The fronds, without being told, danced in crosses
On a deathground of proud trees and humble hills
And the birds knew when to chirp their elegies
Even the rocks seemed to be renewing themselves
Angrily, where they had been chipped off
By the violence of lead warring against earth.
Rains poured in January and spirited away
Your bloods into the roots of quiet bamboo
And into the headwaters of the lowland brook.
The earth must have felt wonder: this warm body
Has slumped so beautifully, clutching its own
As though in a prophecy of bittersweet reunion.
You had written of lilies in the free undergrowth
Unfolding like the remembered eyes of your love,
Eyes more constant than the glimmer of fireflies
Lilies like torches in a dark season of monsoons.
It may not be so strange, after all, that memories
Of our moment of dying over your unreal death
Persist to haunt us: it was only a second of grief,
And we small need, oh! a brave cycle of lifetimes
To feel your hands in ours, fully hold your spirit
As we follow trails where you planted your flowers.
NA YUMAO, AT WALANG HANGGAN
kahapon, aking nakausap
ang isang matandang
tulad ng sa iyo ang mata-
naniningkit habang tumatawa
may lihim na katalasang
nakahuhuli ng kahit bahid
ng mga bahaghari.
Di man pinagsabiha’y hugis krus na nagsayaw
ang nangingipuspos na mga dahon ng niyog
Sa libingang may tanod na puno’t burol.
Maging ang bato ay napahumindig, kung saan
Tinipyas ng tinggang namuhi sa iyong lupa.
Dumagsa ang ulang Enero, itinakas nito
Ang dugo mo’t inipon sa ugat ng kawayan
Inilagak sa bukal na ang tungo’y kapatagan
Nagtaka ang lupa, marahil: kay init ng
Iyong katawan! At anong payapang nakahandusay...
Yumakap sa damo, tinik, luwad, bulaklak
Waring itinakda ang pag-aalay sa gubat!
Sumulat ka noon tungkol sa mga liryo:
Kawangis kaya’y mga mata ng mahal mo
Na nakatutok saanman abutan ka ng dilim?
Matang ang ningas ay higit pa sa alitaptap
Liryong sulo mo sa kadawagang hinabagat
Hindi nakapagtatakang kami pa’y dinadalaw
Ng mga sandaling nag-ulat noon ng pagpanaw:
Saglit ding kamatayan, saglit ding pagkapugto
At ngayo’y kailangang namnamin habambuhay
Ang dampi man lamang ng nakadaop mong kamay
Ang rikit ng tinula mong pag-ibig sa lahat
Habang aming tinutunton ang pinagtamnan mo
ng mga bulaklak.
- by Edgar Maranan
both English and Filipino translation
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