Atin Cu Pung Singsing

Folk Song
(Kapampangan)
Atin ku pung singsing
Metung yang timpukan
Amana ke iti
King indung ibatan.*

Sangkan keng sininup

King metung a kaban
Mewala ya iti,
E ku kamalayan.

Ing sukal ning lub ku

Susukdul king banwa
Pikurus kung gamat
Babo ning lamesa.

Ninu mang manakit

King singsing kung mana
Kalulung pusu ku
Manginu ya keya.
I Once Had a Ring
Folk Song
(English)
I once had a ring
That had a single gem
I inherited it
From my father*.

I thought I hid it
In a chest
But it disappeared
Without my knowledge.

My despair was so great

It reached the heavens
I clasped my hands**
And placed them upon the table.
 Whoever finds
The ring I inherited,
My poor heart
Will worship him.

A Tree
By Jose Corazon de Jesus

Viewed from a distant vantage

I appear as a cross with arms outstretched;
As I stayed on my knees long enduring,
It seems that I am kissing God’s feet.

Like an organ in a church,

Praying amid extreme sorrows,
Is the candle flame of my life
Keeping vigil upon my tomb.

At my feet is a spring
That sobs all day and all night;
Upon my branches lie
The nests of love-birds.

By the sparkling of that spring

You’d think of flowing tears bubbling;
And the Moon that seems to be praying
Greets me with a pale smile.

The bells tolling the vespers

Hint to me their wailing;
Birds on my branches are covered with leaves,
The spring at my feet has tears welling,

But look at my fate,

Dried-up, dying alone comforting myself.
I became the cross of the withered love,
And a watcher of tombs in the darkness.

All is ended! Night is a mantle of mourning

That I use to cover my face!
A fallen piece of wood am I, and prostate
Neither bird nor people find any pleasure.

And to think that in the days past

A tree I was of luxuriant and leafy growth;
Now my branches are crosses o’er graves,
My leaves made into wreaths on tombs!
Isang Dipang Langit
The title of this poem by Amado V. Hernandez can be translated into English as A
Piece of Heaven. Signed in Muntinlupa Prison on April 22, 1952.

Isang Dipang Langit

Ako’y ipiniit ng linsil na puno

hangad palibhasang diwa ko’y piitin,
katawang marupok, aniya’y pagsuko,
damdami’y supil na’t mithiin ay supil.

Ikinulong ako sa kutang malupit:

bato, bakal, punlo, balasik ng bantay;
lubos na tiwalag sa buong daigdig
at inaring kahit buhay man ay patay.

Sa munting dungawan, tanging abot-malas

ay sandipang langit na puno ng luha,
 maramot na birang ng pusong may sugat,
watawat ng aking pagkapariwara.

Sintalim ng kidlat ang mata ng tanod,

sa pintong may susi’t walang makalapit;
sigaw ng bilanggo sa katabing moog,
anaki’y atungal ng hayop sa yungib.

Ang maghapo’y tila isang tanikala

na kala-kaladkad ng paang madugo
ang buong magdamag ay kulambong luksa
ng kabaong waring lungga ng bilanggo.

Kung minsa’y magdaan ang payak na yabag,

kawil ng kadena ang kumakalanding;
sa maputlang araw saglit ibibilad,
sanlibong aninong iniluwa ng dilim.

Kung minsan, ang gabi’y biglang magulantang

sa hudyat – may takas! – at asod ng punlo;
kung minsa’y tumangis ang lumang batingaw,
sa bitayang moog, may naghihingalo.

At ito ang tanging daigdig ko ngayon –

bilangguang mandi’y libingan ng buhay;
sampu, dalawampu, at lahat ng taon
ng buong buhay ko’y dito mapipigtal.

Nguni’t yaring diwa’y walang takot-hirap

at batis pa rin itong aking puso:
piita’y bahagi ng pakikilamas,
mapiit ay tanda ng di pagsuko.

Ang tao’t Bathala ay di natutulog

at di habang araw ang api ay api,
tanang paniniil ay may pagtutuos,
habang may Bastilya’y may bayang gaganti.

At bukas, diyan din, aking matatanaw

sa sandipang langit na wala nang luha,
sisikat ang gintong araw ng tagumpay…
layang sasalubong ako sa paglaya!
 Bartolina ng Muntinlupa – Abril 22, 1952

An Arm’s Length of Heaven

I was incarcerated by a cruel leader,

asking for the price of my crushed spirit,
the body is weak, so I must surrender,
if spirit is defeated it embraced defeat

I was cornered in a fortress of brute gallows:

stone, steel, bullet, guard’s enmity, the constant knife;
I was spewed out from the entire world of sorrows
And taken for dead when life has not escaped life

In a tiny window, all one can penetrate

is an arm’s length of heaven full of bitter tears,
selfish panorama or a wounded heart’s gate,
flag of my wantonness, kerchief of sneers.

As knife the thunder of guardsman’s rolling eyes,

Fixed on locked door no body dares the length;
A prisoner’s yell in the adjacent sty
Was as a cavern animal’s trapped in its strength.

The entire day was chained to the entire structure,

Dragged as steel ball by shod foot pulped and bloody;
The entire night is a tent of grief and injure,
by the casket which was the only sanctuary.

Once, simple steps trace the cordoned blockade,

The hooks of steel chains are scraping concrete;
under pale sun put out to dry and to degrade,
a thousand shadows spat out by darkest pit

Once the night was suddenly brought to a scare

by an alarm – an escape! – gunshots were flying;
Once the old bell was pealing out in black despair,
in the death chamber, someone’s breath is escaping.

And now this is my only constant universe -

Interred in prison, graveyard of the living;
a decade, or two, or all of the coming scores
of all of my life here consumed while I’m fading.

But my spirit shall conquer fear, ordeal

My blood veins shall still run, my blood flow’s still a stream:
A prison is but part of dealing with evil,
To be imprisoned is to crush surrender’s dream.

Gods and men are not forever asleep

the oppressed shall not be the oppressed of every chance,
this grave injustice has a battle cry to keep,
As long as there’s Bastille, a country exacts vengeance.

And tomorrow, in the same window, I shall see

from the arm’s length of heaven without a single tear,
the provident sun shall rise a shining victory ...
my freed self shall come down to greet my self free!

Muntinlupa Prison - April 22, 1952

Ang Guryon
This poem was written by Ildefonso Santos.

Ang Guryon

Tanggapin mo, anak, itong munting guryon

na yari sa patpat at papel de Hapon;
magandang laruang pula, puti, asul,
na may pangalan mong sa gitna naroon.
Ang hiling ko lamang, bago paliparin
ang guryon mong ito ay pakatimbangin;
ang solo’t paulo’y sukating magaling
nang hindi mag-ikit o kaya’y magkiling.
Saka pag sumimoy ang hangin, ilabas
at sa papawiri’y bayaang lumipad;
datapwa’t ang pisi’y tibayan mo, anak,
at baka lagutin ng hanging malakas.
Ibigin mo’t hindi, balang araw ikaw
ay mapapabuyong makipagdagitan;
makipaglaban ka, subali’t tandaan
na ang nagwawagi’y ang pusong marangal.
At kung ang guryon mo’y sakaling madaig,
matangay ng iba o kaya’y mapatid;
kung saka-sakaling di na mapabalik,
maawaing kamay nawa ang magkamit!
Ang buhay ay guryon: marupok, malikot,
dagiti’t dumagit, saanman sumuot…
O, paliparin mo’t ihalik sa Diyos,
bago pa tuluyang sa lupa’y sumubsob!

"The Kite"

by Ildefonso Santos
Take this my son, this little kite

A kite of stick and Japanese paper

Pretty red, white and blue toy

With your name at its center

My only wish, before you fly it

Take care of this little kite's balance

Take care of its every end

So it won't turn upside down nor sway

Like it or not, the day will come

When you'll be enticed into a kite-fight

Struggle o struggle, but always remember

Only a clean heart scores a victory

And if in case, your kite has fell

Taken by others, or the string was cut

If it has not been returned

May merciful hands claim it as theirs

Life is a kite, weak and turbulent

Fight or be fought, wherever it goes

O let it fly and kiss our God

Before it fell unto the earth.

 Ako ang Daigdig

ni Alejandro Abadilla

I
ako
ang daigdig

ako
ang tula

ako
ang daigdig
ng tula
ang tula
ng daigdig

ako
ang walang maliw na ako
ang walang kamatayang ako
ang tula ng daigdig

II
ako
ang daigdig ng tula
ako
 ang tula ng daigdig

ako ang malayang ako

matapat sa sarili
sa aking daigdig
ng tula

ako
ang tula
sa daidig

ako
ang daigdig
ng tula
ako

III
ako
ang damdaming
malaya

ako
ang larawang
buhay

ako
ang buhay
na walang hanggan

ako
ang damdamin
ang larawan
ang buhay

damdamin
larawan
buhay
tula
ako

IV
ako
ang daigdig
sa tula

ako
ang tula
sa daigdig

ako
ang daigdig

ako
ang tula

daigdig
tula
     ako....