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~ Tagalog (Filipino) Translations of Poetry from English and Vice Versa. Run Out of Love and Passion, Never Out of Words.

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Monthly Archives: September 2013

About Forts

20 Friday Sep 2013

Posted by DiwaPH in Poetry Translation

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Tags

Filipino, Filipino poem, Filipino translation, Forts, million people march, Peace, Philippines, song, Tagalog poem, Tagalog translation, War, Zamboanga

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photo credit creative commons: flickr/Education Projects for Children of Sabah

 

Copyright © 2013 Su Layug. All Rights Reserved.*

Tungkol sa Mga Kuta

~ Su Layug

Sa awit tungkol sa mga kuta

na yari sa bato, may mga nakabitin

na mumunting kampanilya, hinulma sa apoy

at panata, na sinuot ng mga babaylan

upang magsumamo sa mga anito,

upang magsumamo ng paghilom

Mayroon bang ganoong awit?
 
Sa awit tungkol sa mga kuta

na gawa sa bukid, nililok ang mga punyal

mula sa alaala ng mga ninunong pinaslang

ng mga ganid sa lupa at tubig

na hindi kaninuman,

na para kaninuman

Nahan ang awit na iyon?
 
Sa awit tungkol sa mga kuta

na binuo ng mga tao, ang mga mukha’y lupain ng pighati

mga buhol ng tanikala’y mga kamay

mga hininga’y pinatid ng mga hari’t reynang

naglapastangan, nangdambong

sa Inangbayan, mga ate

Amangbayan, mga kuya,

Anakbayan, bunso

May mga naririnig akong umaawit

tawid- kuta, tawid-bundok.
 

About Forts

~ Su Layug

In a song about forts

made of rock, hang tiny bells fashioned

from brass tempered by fire

and faith,  worn by priestess warriors

to summon the spirits

to summon healing

Is there such a song?
 
In a song about forts

made of fields, battle knives are carved

from memories of ancestors killed

by the usurpers of land and water

that were no one’s

that were everyone’s

Where is that song?
 
In a song about forts

made of humans, faces are a landscape

of sorrow – chain of knots made of hands,

lives snuffed out by kings and queens

who raped and plundered

motherland, sisters

fatherland, brothers

children of the land

I hear people singing

across forts, across mountains
 
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