Debolbida Returning

Di Francis Macansantos By Francis Macansantos

Todo sila ta deja kanaton, They all leave us,

Ta sigue na corriente del maga hora, Following the flow of hours,
Del maga dia, maga aňo. Days, years,
Tiene ya muri ya, Some already dead,
Tiene no sabe kita cosa ya ya pasa--- Some we have no information on---
El casa leňa, el cuerpo tierra, The house turned into firewood,
El mismo memoria agua y biento. The body into earth, memory itself,
Turned into water and wind.
Mas makamiedo si pensa kita
Que el mismo silla donde kita ta sinta Even more terrifying, when one considers
Ay destronca solo-solo y bira it,
Na palo, delbolbido—na un Segundo Is if the chair we are sitting on
Establisao otra be el porest, Dislocates itself and turns back
Y el de aton cuerpo cae na espacio Into timber---and in a second
Donde ya desparece ya el piso, The forest reestablishes itself,
El cement ya bolbe ya na monte, And our bodies fall through the space
Y el arena na aplaya. El pesades From which the floor has disappeared,
Del buli ay guia kanaton paabajo. The cement having returned to the
mountain
And the sand to the shore. The weight
Of our butts will guide us downward.

May Temple-Maravilles. Literatures of Mindanao. Languages Department. School of Liberal Arts. Ateneo de Zamboanga University.