West Visayas State University

(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)

CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30

POETRY INTERPRETATION

Still I Rise
BY MAY A AN GELOU

You may write me down in history You may shoot me with your words,

With your bitter, twisted lies, You may cut me with your eyes,

You may trod me in the very dirt You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like dust, I'll rise. But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you? Does my sexiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom? Does it come as a surprise

'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells That I dance like I've got diamonds

Pumping in my living room. At the meeting of my thighs?

Just like moons and like suns, Out of the huts of history's shame

With the certainty of tides, I rise

Just like hopes springing high, Up from a past that's rooted in pain

Still I'll rise. I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Did you want to see me broken? Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Bowed head and lowered eyes? Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

Shoulders falling down like teardrops. I rise

Weakened by my soulful cries. Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear

I rise

Does my haughtiness offend you? Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

Don't you take it awful hard I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines I rise

Diggin' in my own back yard. I rise

I rise.
 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30

STORYTELLING

MORELLA
by Edgar Allan Poe

WITH a feeling of deep yet most singular affection I regarded my friend Morella.
Thrown by accident into her society many years ago, my soul from our first meeting,
burned with fires it had never before known; but the fires were not of Eros, and bitter
and tormenting to my spirit was the gradual conviction that I could in no manner define
their unusual meaning or regulate their vague intensity. Yet we met; and fate bound us
together at the altar, and I never spoke of passion nor thought of love. She, however,
shunned society, and, attaching herself to me alone rendered me happy. It is a
happiness to wonder; it is a happiness to dream.

Morella's erudition was profound. As I hope to live, her talents were of no

common order—her powers of mind were gigantic.

In all this, if I err not, my reason had little to do. My convictions, or I forget myself,
were in no manner acted upon by the ideal, nor was any tincture of the mysticism
which I read to be discovered, unless I am greatly mistaken, either in my deeds or in my
thoughts. And then—then, when poring over forbidden pages, I felt a forbidden spirit
enkindling within me—would Morella place her cold hand upon my own and rake up
from the ashes of a dead philosophy some low, singular words, whose strange meaning
burned themselves in upon my memory.

"It is a day of days," she said, as I approached; "a day of all days either to live or
die. It is a fair day for the sons of earth and life—ah, more fair for the daughters of
heaven and death!"

I kissed her forehead, and she continued:

"I am dying, yet shall I live."

"Morella!"

"The days have never been when thou couldst love me—but her whom in life
thou didst abhor, in death thou shalt adore."

"Morella!"

"I repeat I am dying. But within me is a pledge of that affection—ah, how little! —
which thou didst feel for me, Morella. And when my spirit departs shall the child live—
thy child and mine, Morella's. But thy days shall be days of sorrow—that sorrow, which is
 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30

the most lasting of impressions, as the cypress is the most enduring of trees. For the hours
of thy happiness are over and joy is not gathered twice in a life, as the roses of Paestum
twice in a year. Thou shalt no longer, then, play the Teian with time, but, being ignorant
of the myrtle and the vine, thou shalt bear about with thee thy shroud on the earth, as
do the Moslemin at Mecca."

"Morella!" I cried, "Morella! how knowest thou this?" but she turned away her face
upon the pillow and a slight tremor coming over her limbs, she thus died, and I heard
her voice no more.

Thus passed away two lustra of her life, and as yet my daughter remained
nameless upon the earth. "My child," and "my love," were the designations usually
prompted by a father's affection, and the rigid seclusion of her days precluded all other
intercourse. Morella's name died with her at her death. Of the mother I had never
spoken to the daughter, it was impossible to speak. Indeed, during the brief period of
her existence, the latter had received no impressions from the outward world, save such
as might have been afforded by the narrow limits of her privacy. And at the baptismal
font I hesitated for a name. And many titles of the wise and beautiful, of old and
modern times, of my own and foreign lands, came thronging to my lips, with many,
many fair titles of the gentle, and the happy, and the good. What prompted me then
to disturb the memory of the buried dead? What demon urged me to breathe that
sound, which in its very recollection was wont to make ebb the purple blood in torrents
from the temples to the heart? What fiend spoke from the recesses of my soul, when
amid those dim aisles, and in the silence of the night, I whispered within the ears of the
holy man the syllables—Morella? What more than fiend convulsed the features of my
child, and overspread them with hues of death, as starting at that scarcely audible
sound, she turned her glassy eyes from the earth to heaven and falling prostrate on the
black slabs of our ancestral vault, responded—"I am here!"

Distinct, coldly, calmly distinct, fell those few simple sounds within my ear, and
thence like molten lead rolled hissingly into my brain. And I kept no reckoning of time or
place, and the stars of my fate faded from heaven, and therefore the earth grew dark,
and its figures passed by me like flitting shadows, and among them all I beheld only—
Morella. The winds of the firmament breathed but one sound within my ears, and the
ripples upon the sea murmured evermore—Morella. But she died; and with my own
hands I bore her to the tomb; and I laughed with a long and bitter laugh as I found no
traces of the first in the channel where I laid the second. —Morella.
 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30

The Pie
Gary Soto

I knew enough about hell to stop me from stealing. I was holy in almost
every bone. Some days I recognized the shadows of angels flopping on the
backyard grass, and other days I heard faraway messages in the plumbing that
howled beneath the house when I crawled there looking for something to do.
But boredom made me sin. Once, at the German Market, I stood before a rack
of pies, my sweet tooth gleaming and the juice of guilt wetting my underarms. I
gazed at the nine kinds of pie, pecan and apple being my favorites, although
cherry looked good, and my dear, fat-faced chocolate was always a good bet.
I nearly wept trying to decide which to steal and, forgetting the flowery dust
priests give off, the shadow of angels and the proximity of God howling in the
plumbing underneath the house, sneaked a pie behind my coffee-lid Frisbee
and walked to the door, grinning to the bald grocer whose forehead shone with
a window of light.

"No one saw," I muttered to myself, the pie like a discus in my hand, and
hurried across the street where I sat on someone's lawn. The sun wavered
between the branches of a yellowish sycamore. A squirrel nailed itself high on
the trunk, where it forked into two large bark-scabbed limbs. Just as I was going
to work my cleanest finger into the pie, a neighbor came out to the porch for his
mail. He looked at me, and I got up and headed for home. I raced on skinny
legs to my block, but slowed to a quick walk when I couldn't wait any longer. I
held the pie to my nose and breathed in its sweetness. I licked some of the crust
and closed my eyes as I took a small bite.
 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30

In my front yard, I leaned against a car fender and panicked about

stealing the apple pie. I knew an apple got Eve in deep trouble with snakes
because Sister Marie had shown us a film about Adam and Eve being cast into
the desert, and what scared me more than falling from grace was being thirsty
for the rest of my life. But even that didn't stop me from clawing a chunk from
the pie tin and pushing it into the cavern of my mouth. The slop was sweet and
gold-colored in the afternoon sun. I laid more pieces on my tongue, wet finger-
dripping pieces, until I was finished and felt like crying because it was about the
best thing I had ever tasted. I realized right there and then, in my sixth year, in
my tiny body of two hundred bones and three or four sins, that the best things in
life came stolen. I wiped my sticky fingers on the grass and rolled my tongue
over the corners of my mouth. A burp perfumed the air.

I felt bad not sharing with Cross-Eyed Johnny, a neighbor kid. He stood
over my shoulder and asked, "Can I have some?" Crust fell from my mouth, and
my teeth were bathed with the jam-like filling. Tears blurred my eyes as I
remembered the grocer's forehead. I remembered the other pies on the rack,
the warm air of the fan above the door and the car that honked as I crossed
the street without looking.

"Get away," I had answered Cross-Eyed Johnny. He watched my fingers

greedily push big chunks of pie down my throat. He swallowed and said in a
whisper, "Your hands are dirty," then returned home to climb his roof and sit
watching me eat the pie by myself. After a while, he jumped off and hobbled
away because the fall had hurt him.
 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs
I sat on the curb. The pie tin glared at me and rolled away when the wind
2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST
picked up.“WVSU-CC:
My face was sticky
Pushing the with guilt. A
Boundaries of car honked,
Excellence via and the
Culture driver
and Arts.”knew.
November 28-30
Mrs. Hancock stood on her lawn, hands on hip, and she knew. My mom, peeling
a mountain of potatoes at the Redi-Spud factory, knew. I got to my feet,
stomach taut, mouth tired of chewing, and flung my Frisbee across the street, its
shadow like the shadow of an angel fleeing bad deeds. I retrieved it, jogging
slowly. I flung it again until I was bored and thirsty.

I returned home to drink water and help my sister glue bottle caps onto
cardboard, a project for summer school. But the bottle caps bored me, and the
water soon filled me up more than the pie. With the kitchen stifling with heat
and lunatic flies, I decided to crawl underneath out house and lie in the cool
shadows listening to the howling sound of plumbing. Was it God? Was it Father,
speaking from death, or Uncle with his last shiny dime? I listened, ear pressed to
a cold pipe, and heard a howl like the sea. I lay until I was cold and then
crawled back to the light, rising from one knee, then another, to dust off my
pants and squint in the harsh light. I looked and saw the glare of a pie tin on a
hot day. I knew sin was what you took and didn't give back.
 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30

Casabianca
by James Baldwin

There was a great battle at sea. One could hear nothing but the roar of
the big guns. The air was filled with black smoke. The water was strewn with
broken masts and pieces of timber which the cannon balls had knocked from
the ships. Many men had been killed, and many more had been wounded.
The flag-ship had taken fire. The flames were breaking out from below. The
deck was all ablaze. The men who were left alive made haste to launch a small
boat. They leaped into it, and rowed swiftly away. Any other place was safer
now than on board of that burning ship. There was powder in the hold.
But the captain's son, young Casabianca, still stood upon the deck. The
flames were almost all around him now; but he would not stir from his post. His
father had bidden him stand there, and he had been taught always to obey.
He trusted in his father's word, and believed that when the right time came he
would tell him to go.
He saw the men leap into the boat. He heard them call to him to come.
He shook his head.
"When father bids me, I will go," he said.
And now the flames were leaping up the masts. The sails were all ablaze.
The fire blew hot upon his cheek. It scorched his hair. It was before him, behind
him, all around him.
"O father!" he cried, "may I not go now? The men have all left the ship. Is it
not time that we too should leave it?"
He did not know that his father was lying in the burning cabin below, that
a cannon ball had struck him dead at the very beginning of the fight. He
listened to hear his answer.
 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30

"Speak louder, father!" he cried. "I cannot hear what you say."
Above the roaring of the flames, above the crashing of the falling spars,
above the booming of the guns, he fancied that his father's voice came faintly
to him through the scorching air.
"I am here, father! Speak once again!" he gasped. But what is that?
A great flash of light fills the air; clouds of smoke shoot quickly upward to
the sky; and--
"Boom!"
Oh, what a terrific sound! Louder than thunder, louder than the roar of all
the guns! The air quivers; the sea itself trembles; the sky is black.
The blazing ship is seen no more. There was powder in the hold!
* **
A long time ago a lady, whose name was Mrs. Hemans, wrote a poem
about this brave boy Casabianca. It is not a very well written poem, and yet
everybody has read it, and thousands of people have learned it by heart. I
doubt not but that some day you too will read it. It begins in this way:--
"The boy stood on the burning deck Whence all but him had fled;
The flame that lit the battle's wreck Shone round him o'er the dead.
"Yet beautiful and bright he stood, As born to rule the storm--
A creature of heroic blood,
A proud though childlike form."
In the Far East there was a great king who had no work to do. Every day,
and all day long, he sat on soft cushions and listened to stories. And no matter
what the story was about, he never grew tired of hearing it, even though it was
very long.
 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30

"There is only one fault that I find with your story," he often said: "it is too
short."
All the story-tellers in the world were invited to his palace; and some of
them told tales that were very long indeed. But the king was always sad when a
story was ended.
At last he sent word into every city and town and country place, offering
a prize to any one who should tell him an endless tale. He said,--
"To the man that will tell me a story which shall last forever, I will give my
fairest daughter for his wife; and I will make him my heir, and he shall be king
after me."
But this was not all. He added a very hard condition. "If any man shall try
to tell such a story and then fail, he shall have his head cut off."
The king's daughter was very pretty, and there were many young men in
that country who were willing to do anything to win her. But none of them
wanted to lose their heads, and so only a few tried for the prize.
One young man invented a story that lasted three months; but at the end
of that time, he could think of nothing more. His fate was a warning to others,
and it was a long time before another story-teller was so rash as to try the king's
patience.
But one day a stranger from the South came into the palace.
"Great king," he said, "is it true that you offer a prize to the man who can
tell a story that has no end?"
"It is true," said the king.
"And shall this man have your fairest daughter for his wife, and shall he be
your heir?"
"Yes, if he succeeds," said the king. "But if he fails, he shall lose his head."
 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30

"Very well, then," said the stranger. "I have a pleasant story about locusts
which I would like to relate."
"Tell it," said the king. "I will listen to you." The story-teller began his tale.
"Once upon a time a certain king seized upon all the corn in his country,
and stored it away in a strong granary. But a swarm of locusts came over the
land and saw where the grain had been put. After searching for many days
they found on the east side of the granary a crevice that was just large enough
for one locust to pass through at a time. So one locust went in and carried away
a grain of corn; then another locust went in and carried away a grain of corn;
then another locust went in and carried away a grain of corn."
Day after day, week after week, the man kept on saying, "Then another
locust went in and carried away a grain of corn."
A month passed; a year passed. At the end of two years, the king said,--
"How much longer will the locusts be going in and carrying away corn?"
"O king!" said the story-teller, "they have as yet cleared only one cubit;
and there are many thousand cubits in the granary."
"Man, man!" cried the king, "you will drive me mad. I can listen to it no
longer. Take my daughter; be my heir; rule my kingdom. But do not let me hear
another word about those horrible locusts!"
And so the strange story-teller married the king's daughter. And he lived
happily in the land for many years. But his father-in-law, the king, did not care to
listen to any more stories.
 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30

Why Don’t You Dance?

by Raymond Carver

In the kitchen, he poured another drink and looked at the bedroom suite in his
front yard. The mattress was stripped, and the candy-striped sheets lay beside two
pillows on the chiffonier. Except for that, things looked much the way they had in the
bedroom—nightstand and reading lamp on his side of the bed, nightstand and reading
lamp on her side.

His side, her side.

He considered this as he sipped the whiskey.

The chiffonier stood a few feet from the foot of the bed. He had emptied the
drawers into cartons that morning, and the cartons were in the living room. A portable
heater was next to the chiffonier. Now and then a car slowed, and people stared. But
no one stopped. It occurred to him that he wouldn't, either.

"It must be a yard sale," the girl said to the boy.

This girl and this boy were furnishing a little apartment.

"Let's see what they want for the bed," the girl said.

"And for the TV," the boy said.

The boy pulled into the driveway and stopped in front of the kitchen table.

They got out of the car and began to examine things, the girl touching the
muslin cloth, the boy plugging in the blender and turning the dial to MINCE, the girl
picking up a chafing dish, the boy turning on the television set and making little
adjustments.

He sat down on the sofa to watch.

"Come here, Jack. Try this bed. Bring one of those pillows," she said.

She bounced on the bed.

"Try it first," she said.

He lay down on the bed and put the pillow under his head.

"How does it feel?" she said.

"It feels firm," he said.

 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30

She turned on her side and put her hand to his face.

"Kiss me," she said.

Lights came on in the houses up and down the street.

"Wouldn't it be funny if," the girl said and grinned and didn't finish.

The boy laughed, but for no good reason. For no good reason, he switched the

reading lamp on.

The girl brushed away a mosquito, whereupon the boy stood up and tucked in
his shirt.

"I'll see if anybody's home," he said. "I don't think anybody's home. But if anybody
is, I'll see what things are going for."

"Whatever they ask, offer ten dollars less. It's always a good idea," she said. "And,
besides, they must be desperate or something."

"It's a pretty good TV," the boy said.

"Ask them how much," the girl said.

"Hello," the man said to the girl. "You found the bed. That's good."

"Hello," the girl said, and got up. "I was just trying it out." She patted the bed.

"Would you take forty?" the girl asked.

"I'll take forty," the man said.

"How about the TV?" the boy said.

"Twenty-five."

"Would you take fifteen?" the girl said.

"Fifteen's okay. I could take fifteen," the man said.

The girl looked at the boy.

"You kids, you'll want a drink," the man said. "Glasses in that box. I'm going to

sit down. I'm going to sit down on the sofa."

The man sat on the sofa, leaned back, and stared at the boy and the girl.

The boy found two glasses and poured whiskey.

 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30

"That's enough," the girl said. "I think I want water in mine."

She pulled out a chair and sat at the kitchen table.

"So what do you want?" the boy said to the girl.

The boy took out the checkbook and held it to his lips as if thinking.

"I want the desk," the girl said. "How much money is the desk?"

The man waved his hand at this preposterous question.

"Name a figure," he said.

He looked at them as they sat at the table. In the lamplight, there was something
about their faces. It was nice or it was nasty. There was no telling.

"I'm going to turn off this TV and put on a record," the man said. "This record
player is going, too. Cheap. Make me an offer."

He poured more whiskey and opened a beer.

"Everything goes," said the man.

The girl held out her glass and the man poured.

The man finished his drink and poured another, and then he found the box with

the records.

"Pick something," the man said to the girl, and he held the records out to her.

The boy was writing the check.

"Here," the girl said, picking something, picking anything, for she did not know the
names on these labels. She got up from the table and sat down again. She did not
want to sit still.

"I'm making it out to cash," the boy said.

"Sure," the man said.

They drank. They listened to the record. And then the man put on another.

Why don't you kids dance? he decided to say, and then he said it. "Why don't
you dance?"

"I don't think so," the boy said.

 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30

The man turned the record over and the boy said, "I am drunk."

"Dance with me," the girl said to the boy and then to the man, and when the
man stood up, she came to him with her arms wide open.

He felt her breath on his neck.

"I hope you like your bed," he said.

The girl closed and then opened her eyes. She pushed her face into the man's
shoulder. She pulled the man closer.

"You must be desperate or something," she said.

Weeks later, she said: "The guy was about middle-aged. All his things right there
in his yard. No lie. We got real angry and danced. In the driveway. Oh, my God. Don't
laugh. He played us these records. Look at this record-player. The old guy give it to us.
and all these cheap records. Will you look at this?"

She kept talking. She told everyone. There was more to it, and she was trying to
get it talked out. After a time, she quit trying.
 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30

DEAD STARS
by Paz Marquez Benitez

(Excerpt of Part 1 -3)

THROUGH the open window the air-steeped outdoors passed into his room,
quietly enveloping him, stealing into his very thought. Esperanza, Julia, the sorry mess he
had made of life, the years to come even now beginning to weigh down, to crush--
they lost concreteness, diffused into formless melancholy. The tranquil murmur of
conversation issued from the brick tiled azotea where Don Julian and Carmen were
busy puttering away among the rose pots.

Alfredo remembered he gripped the soft hand so near his own. At his touch, the
girl turned her face away, but he heard her voice say very low, "Good-bye." He
remembered how his slow blood began to beat violently, irregularly. A girl was coming
down the line—Julia Salas, a girl that was striking, and vividly alive, the woman that
could cause violent commotion in his heart yet had no place in the completed
ordering of his life.

AS Alfredo Salazar leaned against the boat rail to watch the evening settling
over the lake, he wondered if Esperanza would attribute any significance to this trip of
his. He was supposed to be inSta. Cruz whither the case of the People of the Philippine
Islands vs. Belina et al had kept him, and there he would have been if Brigida Samuy
had not been so important to the defense. He had to find that elusive old woman.

He was not unhappy in his marriage. He felt no rebellion: only the calm of
capitulation to what he recognized as irresistible forces of circumstance and of
character.. At such times did Esperanza feel baffled and helpless; he was gentle, even
tender, but immeasurably far away, beyond her reach.

Lights were springing into life on the shore. That was the town, a little up-tilted
town nestling in the dark greenness of the groves. A snub crested belfry stood beside
the ancient church. On the outskirts the evening smudges glowed red through the
sinuous mists of smoke that rose and lost themselves in the purple shadows of the hills.
There was a young moon which grew slowly luminous as the coral tints in the sky yielded
to the darker blues of evening.

That must be the presidente, he thought, and went down to the landing.

It was a policeman, a tall pock-marked individual. The presidente had left with
Brigida Samuy—Tandang "Binday"--that noon for Santa Cruz. Señor Salazar's second
 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30

letter had arrived late, but the wife had read it and said, "Go and meet the abogado
and invite him to our house."

Alfredo Salazar courteously declined the invitation. He would sleep on board

since the boat would leave at four the next morning anyway. So the presidente had
received his first letter? Alfredo did not know because that official had not sent an
answer. "Yes," the policeman replied, "but he could not write because we heard that
Tandang Binday was in San Antonio so we went there to find her."

How peaceful the town was! Here and there a little tienda was still open, its dim
light issuing forlornly through the single window which served as counter.

An occasional couple sauntered by, the women's chinelas making scraping

sounds. From a distance came the shrill voices of children playing games on the street--
tubigan perhaps, or "hawk-and-chicken."

The thought of Julia Salas in that quiet place filled him with a pitying sadness.

How would life seem now if he had married Julia Salas? Had he meant anything
to her? That unforgettable red-and-gold afternoon in early April haunted him with a
sense of incompleteness as restless as other unlaid ghosts. She had not married--why?

"Good evening," he said, raising his hat.

"Good evening. Oh! Are you in town?"

"On some little business," he answered with a feeling of painful constraint.

"Won't you come up?"

He considered. His vague plans had not included this.

But Julia Salas had left the window, calling to her mother as she did so. After a
while, someone came downstairs with a lighted candle to open the door. At last--he
was shaking her hand.

She had not changed much--a little less slender, not so eagerly alive, yet
something had gone. He missed it, sitting opposite her, looking thoughtfully into her fine
dark eyes. She asked him about the hometown, about this and that, in a sober,
somewhat meditative tone. He conversed with increasing ease, though with a growing
wonder that he should be there at all. He could not take his eyes from her face. What
had she lost? Or was the loss his? He felt an impersonal curiosity creeping into his gaze.
The girl must have noticed, for her cheek darkened in a blush.
 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30

Gently--was it experimentally?--he pressed her hand at parting; but his own felt
undisturbed and emotionless. Did she still care? The answer to the question hardly
interested him.

The young moon had set, and from the uninviting cot he could see one half of a
star-studded sky.

So that was all over.

Why had he obstinately clung to that dream? So all these years--since when?--
he had been seeing the light of dead stars, long extinguished, yet seemingly still in their
appointed places in the heavens. An immense sadness as of loss invaded his spirit, a
vast homesickness for some immutable refuge of the heart far away where faded
gardens bloom again, and where live on in unchanging freshness, the dear, dead loves
of vanished youth.
 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30

Ang Kwento ni Mabuti

ni Genoveva Edroza-Matute

Hindi ko siya nakikita ngayon. Ngunit sinasabi nilang naroroon pa siya sa dating
pinagtuturuan, sa walang pintang paaralang una kong kinakitaan ng sa kanya. Sa isa sa mga
lumang silid sa ikalawang palapag, sa itaas ng lumang hagdang umiingit sa bawat hakbang,
doon sa kung manunungaw ay matatanaw ang maitim na tubig ng isang estero. Naroon pa
siya’t nagtuturo ng mga kaalamang pang-aklat, at bumubuhay ng isang uri ng karunungang sa
kanya ko lamang natutuhan.

Siya’y tinatawag naming lahat na si Mabuti kung siya’y nakatalikod. Ang salitang iyon
ang simula ng halos lahat ng kanyang pagsasalita. Iyon ang pumalit sa mga salitang hindi niya
maalaala kung minsan, at nagiging pamuno sa mga sandaling pag-aalanganin. Sa isang
paraang malirip, iyon ay naging salaminan ng uri ng paniniwala sa buhay.

“Mabuti,” ang sasabihin niya, “… ngayo’y magsisimula tayo sa araling ito. Mabuti
nama’t umabot tayo sa bahaging ito… Mabuti… Mabuti!”

Hindi ako kailanman magtatapat sa kanyang ng anuman kung di lamang nahuli niya
akong minsang lumuluha; nang hapong iyo’y iniluha ng bata kong puso ang pambata ring
suliranin.

Noo’y magtatakipsilim na at maliban sa pabugsu-bugsong hiyawan ng mga

nagsisipanood sa pagsasanay ng mga manlalaro ng paaralan, ang buong paligid ay tahimik
na. Sa isang tagong sulok ng silid-aklatan, pinilit kong lutasin ang aking suliranin sa pagluha.
Doon niya ako natagpuan.

“Mabuti’t may tao pala rito,” wika niyang ikinukubli ang pag-aagam-agam sa narinig.
“Tila may suliranin .. mabuti sana kung makakatulong ako.”

Ibig kong tumakas sa kanya at huwag nang bumalik pa kailanman. Sa bata kong isipan
ay ibinilang kong kahihiyan ay kaabaan ang pagkikita pa naming muli sa hinaharap,
pagkikitang magbabalik sa gunita ng hapong iyon. Ngunit, hindi ako makakilos sa sinabi niya
pagkatapos. Napatda ako na napaupong bigla sa katapat na luklukan.

“Hindi ko alam na may tao rito”….. naparito ako upang umiyak din.”

At sapagkat natuklasan ko ang katotohanang iyon tungkol sa kanya, nagsimula akong

magmasid, maghintay ng mga bakas ng kapaitan sa kanyang sinasabi. Ngunit, sa tuwina,
kasayahan, pananalig, pag-asa ang taglay niya sa aming silid-aralan. Pinuno siya ng maririkit na
guni-guni ang aming isipan at ng mga tunog ang aming pandinig at natutuhan naming unti-inti
ang kagandahan ng buhay. Bawat aralin naming sa anitikan ay naging isang pagtighaw sa
kauhawan naming sa kagandahan at ako’y humanga.
 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30
Wala iyon doon kanina, ang masasabi ko sa aking sarili pagkatapos na maipadama
niya sa amin ang kagandahan ng buhay sa aming aralin. At hindi naging akin ang pagtuklas na
ito sa kariktan kundi pagkatapos na lamang ng pangyayaring iyon sa silid-aklatan.

Ang pananalig niya sa kalooban ng maykapal, sa sangkatauhan, sa lahat na, isa sa

mga pinakamatibay na aking nakilala. Nakasasa;ling ng damdamin. Marahil, ang pananalig
niyang iyon ang nagpakita sa kanya ng kagandahan sa mga bagay na karaniwan na lamang
sa amin ay walang kabuluhan.

Walang pag-aalinlangan ang lahat ng bagay at pangarap niyang maririkit ay

nakapaligid sa batang iyon. Isinalaysay niya sa amin ang katabilan niyon. Ang paglaki nang
mga pangarap niyon, ang nabubuong layunin niyon sa buhay. Minsan, tila hindi
namamalayang nakapagpapahayag ang aming guro ng isang pangamba ang pagkatakot
niyang baka siya hindi umabot sa matatayog na pangarap ng kanyang anak. Maliban sa iilan
sa aming pangkat, paulit-ulit niyang pagbanggit sa kanyang anak ay iisa lamang ang mga
bagay na “pinagtitiisang” pakinggan sapagkat walang paraang maiwasan iyon. Sa akin, ang
bawat pagbanggit na iyon ay nagkakaroon ng kahulugan sapagkat noon pa ma’y nabubuo
na sa aking isipan ang isang hinala.

Sa kanyang magandang salaysay, ay nalalaman ang tungkol sa kaarawan ng kanyang

anak, ang bagong kasuotan niyong may malaking lasong pula sa baywang, ang mga kaibigan
niyong mga bata rin, ang kanilang mga handog. Ang anak niya’y anim na taong gulang na. Sa
susunod na taon niya’y magsisimula na iyong mag-aral. At ibig ng guro naming maging
manggagamot ang kanyang anak- at isang mabuting manggagamot.

Matitiyak ko noong may isang bagay ngang malisya sa buhay niya. Malisya nang
ganoon na lamang. At habang nakaupo ako sa aking luklukan, may dalawang dipa lamang
ang layo sa kanya, kumirot ang puso ko sa pagnanasang lumapit sa kanya, tanganan ang
kanyang mga kamay gaya ng gingawa niya nang hapong iyon sa sulok ng silid-aklatan, at
hilinging magbukas ng dibdib sa akin. Marahil, makagagaan sa kanyang damdamin kung may
mapagtatapatan siyang isang taong man lamang. Ngunit, ito ang sumupil sa pagnanasa kong
yaon; ang mga kamag-aral kong nakikinig ng walang anumang malasakit sa kanyang
sinasabing, “Oo, gaya ng kanyang ama,” habang tumatakas ang dugo sa kanyang mukha.

Pagkatapos, may sinabi siyang hindi ko makakalimutan kailanman. Tinignan niya ako ng
buong tapang na pinipigil ang panginginig ng mga labi at sinabi ang ganito : “Mabuti…mabuti
gaya ng sasabihin nitong Fe-lyon lamang nakararanas ng mga lihim na kalungkutan ang
maaaring makakilala ng mga lihim na kaligayahan. Mabuti, at ngayon, magsimula sa ating
aralin…”

At ngayon, ilang araw lamang ang nakararaan buhat nang mabalitaan ko ang tungkol
sa pagpanaw ng manggagamot na iyon. Ang ama ng batang iyong marahil ay magiging
isang manggagamot din baling araw, ay namatay at naburol ng dalawang gabi at dalawang
araw sa isan bahay na hindi siyang tirahan ni Mabuti at ng kanyang anak. At naunawaan ko
ang lahat. Sa hubad na katotohanan niyon at sa buong kalupitan niyon ay naunawaan ko ang
lahat.
 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30

Sa Bagong Paraiso
(Ni Efren Reyes Abueg)

Nilisan ng batang lalaki at batang babae ang kinagisnang daigdig upang lasapin ang
biyayang handog ng itinuturing nilang Bagong Paraiso.

At silang dalawa - ang batang lalaki at ang batang babae - ay nagsisipag-aral, kasama
pa ng ibang bata sa maliit na gusaling may tatlong silid sa dakong timog ng nayon. Sila’y may
mga pangarap, na ang sakop ay lumalakdaw sa hangganan ng nayong iyon, ng bayang iyon,
at ng lalawigang kinaroroonan niyon.

Wala silang pasok kung araw ng Sabado at Linggo o mga araw na pista opisyal. Silang
dalawa’y naglalaro sa loob ng bakurang iyon, mula sa umaga hanggang sa hapon. Umaakyat
sila sa mga punong santol, sa punong bayabas, sa marurupok na sanga ng sinigwelas,
maaligasgas at malulutong na sanga ng punong mangga. Nagagasgas ang kanilang mga
tuhod, nababakbak ang kanilang mukha at kung minsan ay nalilinsaran sila ng buto kung
nahuhulog – ngunit ang lahat na iyon ay hindi nila iniinda, patuloy sila sa paglalaro.

Malamig sa ilalim ng punong mangga. Makapal ang damo sa sakop ng lilim niyon kung
umaga at doon silang dalawa naghahabulan, nagsisirko, nagpapatiran at kung sila’y
humihingal na ay hihiga sila sa damuhang iyon, titingalain nila ang malalabay na sanga ng
puno, sisilip sila sa pagitan ng masinsing mga dahon at magkukunwaring aaninawin sa langit
ang kanilang mukha.

“Loko mo … makikita mo ba ang mukha mo sa langit? “ minsan ay sabi ng batang

babae.

“Bakit hindi? Ang langit ay isang malaking salamin, sabi ni Tatay ko.” sagot naman ng
batang lalaki.

ii

Ngunit hindi lamang iyon ang kanilang ginagawa: Nagtutudyuhan din sila,
naghahabulan at kapag nahahapo na, mahihiga rin sila sa buhangin, tulad ng ginagawa nila
sa damuhan sa looban, at sa kanilang pagkakatabi, nagkakangitian sila. Minsan ay itinatanong
ng batang lalaki sa batang babae:

Naririnig mo ba na may tumutunog sa aking dibdib?”

At ang batang babae ay nagtaka. Bumangon ito at tumingin sa nakatihayang kalaro.

“ Pakinggan ko nga,” anang batang babae.

Inilapit ng batang babae ang kanyang taynga sa dibdib ng batang lalaki,dumadaiti

ang katawan niya sa katawan ng kalaro at nalalanghap naman ng nakahiga ang halimuyak
ng kanyang buhok.
 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30
Nagkatinginan ang dalawa at ang lalaki ang unang nagbawi ng tingin. “Malay ko …
tena na nga.”

“Oo nga, ano? Bakit kaya kulay dugo ang araw kapag palubog na?” sagot naman ng
batang babae.

Hindi sumagot ang batang lalaki. Nakatanaw ito sa mapulang latay ng liwanag ng araw
sa kanluran.

iii

Puring-puri ang dalawang bata ng kanilang mga magulang at ng kanilang mga

kanayon. At kinaiinggitan naman sila ng ibang mga batang hindi nagkaroon ng pagkakataong
makihalubilo sa kanila.

“Siguro, paglaki ng mga batang ‘yan… silang dalawa ang magkakapangasawahan.

Narinig ng dalawang bata ang salitang iyon at sila’y nagtataka. Hindi nila madalumat
ang kaugnayan ng kanilang pagiging magkalaro sa isang hula sa hinaharap. Higit pang
nakakaabala sa kanilang isip ang sinasabi ng kanilang mga kaklase na silang dalawa’y parang
tuko - magkakapit.

At minsan nga ay napalaban ng suntukan ang batang lalaki. Isang batang lalaking
malaki sa kanya ang isang araw na pauwi na sila ay humarang sa kanilang dinaraanan at sila’y
tinudyo nang tinudyo.

“Kapit-tuko! Kapit-tuko!”

Umiyak ang batang babae. Napoot ang batang lalaki. Ibinalibag nito sa paanan ng
nanunudyong batang lalaki ang bitbit na mga aklat. Sinugod nito ang kalaban. Nagpagulong-
gulong sila sa matigas na lupa, nagkadugo-dugo ang kanilang ilong, nagkalapak-lapak ang
kanilang damit, hanggang sa dumating ang guro at sila’y inawat at sila’y pinabalik sa silid-
aralan at pinadapa sa magkatabing “desk” at tumanggap sila ng tigatlong matinding palo sa
puwit.

Pagkaraan ng pangyayaring iyon, napag-usapan ng dalawang bata ang bansag sa

kanila. At sila’y nag-isip, na lalo lamang nilang ikinalunod sa kanilang kawalang-malay.

Nagtapos sila ng haiskul.

Maliwanag ang naririnig na salita ng dalagita: Kung gusto mong makatapos ng karera,
huwag muna kayong magkita ni Ariel. Naunawan niya ang ibig sabihin niyon, nguni’t ang
pagtutol ay hindi niya maluom sa kanyang kalooban.

“Pero, Inay … Kaibigan ko si Ariel.” May himagsik sa kanyang tinig.

“Kahit na … kayo’y dalaga at binata na. Alam mo na siguro ang ibig kong sabihin. “
May langkap na tigas ang sagot na iyon.
 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30
At ang dalawa’y hindi nagkita, gayong nasa isang lungsod na maliit at maglakad ka
lamang sa mga lansangan ay hindi ka mawawalan ng makakasalubong na kakilala.

Hindi nga sila nakatiis. At sila’y nagkita sa Luneta, hindi lamang minsan kundi sa
maraming pagkikita, marami-marami, at ang kanilang sikil na damdamin ay lumaya at sa
unang pagkakataon, pagkaraan ng ilang buwan sila’y lumigaya.

xv

Malinaw ang sinabi sa sulat: sa pook pa namang iyon, sa lahat ng pook na dapat mong
pakaiwasan - doon kayo nakita. Hindi na sana malubha kung nagkita lamang kayo ngunit
nakita kayong magkahawak - kamay … sa karamihan ng tao sa paligid. Hindi kayo nahiya.

xvi

Sinabi ng dalaga: hindi na ngayon tayo maaaring magkita. Sinabi ng binata: magkikita
tayo, magtatago tayo … ililihim natin sa kanila ang lahat.

xvii

At ngayon, ang kanilang paraiso ay hindi na ang malawak na looban, o kaya’y ang
dalampasigang malamig kung dapit - hapong ang silahis ng araw ay mapulang parang dugo.
Ang daigdig nila ngayon ay makitid, sulok-sulok, malamig din ngunit hinahamig ng init ng
kanilang lumayang mga katawan.

xviii

Maligaya sila sa kanilang daigdig, Maligaya sila sa kanilang bagong paraiso. Hanggang
isang araw ay kumulog, dumagundong ang kalawakan at nangagulat ang mga tao sa
lansangan; pamaya-maya, pumatak ang ulan, na ang pasimulang madalang ay naging
masinsin.

Ang dalaga ay dumungaw sa bintana – masama ang kanyang pakiramdam. Humawak

siya sa palababahan ng bintana. Tumingala siya upang pawiin ang pagsama ng kanyang
pakiramdam. Natanaw niyang maitim ang langit at naisip niyang magtatagal ang ulan.
Tumungo siya at nakita niyang nalinis ng tubig ang bangketa at kasabay ng kanyang
pagtungo, parang isinikad na pataas sa lalamunan ang kanyang bituka at siya’y napanganga
at siya’y napapikit at siya’y napaluha at paghigpit ng kanyang hawak sa palababahan ng
bintana ay napaduwal siya … at ang lumabas sa kanyang bibig ay tumulo sa bangketa at
sandaling kumalat doon at pagkaraa’y nilinis ng patak ng ulan, inanod ng nilikhang mumunting
agos sa gilid ng daan.

At ang dalaga’y napabulalas ng iyak.

 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30

BANGKANG PAPEL
ni: Genoveva Edrosa-Matute

Nagkatuwaan ang mga bata sa pagtatampisaw sa baha. Ito ang pinakahihintay nilang
araw mula nang magkasunud-sunod ang pag-ulan. Alam nilang kapag iyo’y nagpatuloy sa
loob ng tatlong araw ang lansangang patungo sa laruan ay lulubog. At ngayon, ay ikalimang
araw nang walang tigil ang pag-ulan.

Isang batang lalaking nagising sa isang gabi, sa mag dagundong na nakagugulat.

Sa loob ng ilang saglit, ang akala niya’y Bagong Taon noon. Gayon ding malalakas na
ugong ang natatandaan niyang sumasalubong sa Bagong Taon. Ngunit pagkalipas ng ilan
pang saglit, nagunita niyang noon ay wala nang ingay na pumapatak mula sa kanilang
bubungan.

Sa karimla’t pinalaki niya ang dalawang mata, wala siyang makitang ano man maliban
sa isang makitid na silahis. Hindi niya malaman kung alin ang dagundong ng biglang pumuno
sa bahay ang biglang pagliliwanag. Gulilat siyang nagbalikwas at hinanap nang paningin ang
kanyang ina.

Nagsunud-sunod ang tila malalaking batong gumugulong sa kanilang bubungan. Ang

paggulong ng mga iyo’y sinasaliwan ng pagliliwanag at pagdidilim ng bahay, ng pagliliwanag
na muli. Samantala’y patuloy ang pagbuhos ng ulan sa kanilang bubungan, sa kanilang
paligid, sa lahat ng dako.

Muling nahiga ang nagbalikwas at ang tinig niya ay pinatalagos sa karimlan.

“Inay, umuulan, ano?”

“Oo, anak, kangina,” anang tinig mula sa dulo ng hihigan.

“Inay,” ang ulit niya sa karimlan, “dumating na ba ang Tatay?”

Sumagot ang tinig ngunit hindi niya maunawaan. Kaya’t itinaas niya nang bahagay ang
likod at humilig sa kaliwang bisig. Sa kanyang tabi;y naroon ang kapatid na si Miling. Sa tabi
nito’y nabanaagan niya ang katawan ng ina, at sa kabila naman nito’y nakita niya ang banig
na walang tao.
 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
Naramdaman niya ang sigis ng lamigNovember 28-30 buto. Mula sa nababalot na katawan
ng kanyang
ni milng ay hinila niya ang kumot at ito’y itinakip sa sariling katawan. Bahagyang gumalaw ang
kapatid, pagkatapos ay nagpatuloy sa hindi pagkilos. Naaawa siya kay Miling kaya’t ang
kalahati ng kumot ay ibinalot sa katawan niyon at siya’y namaluktot sa nalabing kalahati.

“Inay,” ang tawag niyang muli, “bakit wala pa si Tatay? Anong oras na ba?”

“Ewan ko,” ang sagot ng kanyang ina. “Matulog ka na, anak, at bukas ay
magpapalutang ka ng mga bangkang ginawa mo.”

“Siya, matulog ka na.”

Ngunit ang bata’y hindi natulog. Mula sa malayo’y naririnig niya ang hagibis ng malakas
na hangin. At ang ulang tangay-tangay noon.

“Marahil ay hindi na uuwi ang Tatay ngayong gabi,” ang kanyang nasabi. Naalala
niyang may mga gabing hindi umuuwi ang kanyang ama.

“Saan natutulog ang Tatay kung hindi siya umuuwi rito?” ang tanong niya sa kanyang
ina. Ngunit ito’y hindi sumagot.

Sinipat niya ang mukha upang alamin kung nakapikit na ang kanyang ina. Ngunit sa
karimlan ay hindi niya makita.

Bago siya tuluyang nakalimot, ang kahuli-hulihang larawan sa kanyang balintataw ay

ito. Tatlong malalaking bangkang yari sa papel na inaanod ng baha sa kanilang tapat...

At samantalang pumapailanlang sa kaitaasan ang kahuli-hulihang pangrap ng batang

yaon, ang panahon ay patuloy sa pagmamasungit. Ang munting bahay na pawid ay patuloy
sa pagliliwanag at pagdidilim, sa pananahimik at pag-uumugong, sa pagbabata ng walang
awing hampas ng hangin at ulan...

Ang kinabukasan ng pagtatampisaw at pagpapaanod ng mga bangkang papel ay

dumating... Ngunit kakaibang kinabukasan.

Pagdilat ng inaantok pang batang lalaki ay nakita niyang nag-iisa siya sa hihigan.
Naroon ang kumot at unan ni Miling at ng kanyang ina.

Pupungas siyang bumangon.

Isang kamay ang dumantay sa kanyang balikat at nang magtaas ng paningin ay

nakitang yao’y si Aling Berta, ang kanilang kapitbahay.

Ang mukha ng kanyang ina ay nakita ng batang higit na pumuti kaysa rati. Ngunit ang
mga mata noo’y hindi pumupikit, nakatingin sa wala.

Patakbo siyang lumapit sa ina at sunud-sunod ang kanyang pagtatanong. “Bakit, Inay,
ano ang nangyari? Ano ang nangyari, Inay? Bakit maraming tao rito?”
 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November
Ngunit tila hindi siya narinig ng kausap. Ang 28-30
mga mata noo’y patuloy sa hindi pagsikap.
Ang kamay noo’y patuloy sa paghaplos sa buhok ni Miling.

Nagugulumihang lumapit ang bata kina Mang Pedring at Aling Feli. Ang pag-uusap
nila’y biglang natigil nang siya’y makita.

Wala siyang narinig kundi... “Labinlimang lahat ang nangapatay...”

Hindi niya maunawaan ang ang lahat. Ang pagdami ng tao sa kanilang bahay. Ang
anasan. Ang ayos ng kanyang ina. Ang pag-iyak ni Aling Feli nang siya ay makita.

Sa pagitan ng mga hikbi, siya’y patuloy sa pagtatanong...

“Bakit po? Ano po iyon?”

Walang sumasagot sa kanya. Lahat ng lapitan niya’y nanatiling pinid ang labi. Ipinatong
ang kamay sa kanyang balikat o kaya’y hinahaplos ang kanyang buhok at wala na.

Hindi niya matandaan kung gaano katagal bago may nagdatingan pang mga tao.

“Handa na ba kaya?” anang isang malakas ang tinig. “Ngayon din ay magsialis na
kayo. Kayo’y ihahatid ni Kapitan Sidro sa pook na ligtas. Walang maiiwan, isa man. Bago
lumubog ang araw sila’y papasok dito... Kaya’t walang maaaring maiwan.”

Matagal bago naunawaan ng bata kung ano ang nagyari.

Sila’y palabas na sa bayan, silang mag-iiba, ang lahat ng kanilang kapitbahay, ang
maraming-maraming tao, at ang kani-kanilang balutan.

Sa paulit-ulit na salitaan, sa sali-salimbayang pag-uusap ay nabatid niya ang ilang

bagay.

Sa labinlimang nangapatay kagabi ay kabilang ang kanyang ama...sa labas ng

bayan...sa sagupaan ng mga kawal at taong-bayan.

Nag-aalinlangan, ang batang lalaki’y lumapit sa kanyang ina na mabibigat ang mga
paa sa paghakbang.

Sa bawat hakbang na palayo sa bahay na pawid at sa munting bukid na kanyang

tahanan ay nararagdagan ang agwat ng ulila sa kanyang kabataan.

Ang gabing yaon ng mga dagundong at sigwa, ng mga pangarap na kinabukasan at

ng mga bangkang papel – ang gabing yaon ang kahuli-hulihan sa kabataang sasansaglit
lamang tumagal. Ang araw na humalili’y tigib ng pangamba at ng mga katanungang
inihahanap ng tugon.

Kaya nga ba’t sa tuwi akong makakikita ng bangkang papel ay nagbabalik sa aking
gunita ang isang batang lalaki. Isang batang lalaking gumawa ng tatlong malalaking
bangkang papel na hindi niya napalutang kailanman...
 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30

SI MARIANG MAPANGARAPIN
(Kwentong Bayan)

Magandang dalaga si Maria. Masipag siya at masigla. Masaya at matalino rin siya.
Ano pa't masasabing isa na siyang ulirang dalaga, kaya lang sobra siyang pamangarapin.
Umaga o tanghali man ay nangangarap siya. Lagi na lamang siyang nakikitang nakatingin sa
malayo, waring nag-iisip at nangangarap nang gising. Dahil dito, nakilala siya sa tawag na
Mariang Mapangarapin. Hindi naman nagalit si Maria bagkos pa ngang ikinatuwa pa yata niya
ang bansag na ikinabit sa pangalan niya.

Minsan niregaluhan siya ng isang binata ng isang dosenang dumalagang manok.

Tuwang-tuwa si Maria! Inalagaan niyang mabuti ang alaalang bigay sa kanya ng iisang
manliligaw niya. Nagpagawa siya sa kanyang ama ng kulungan para sa mga manok niya.
Higit sa karaniwang pag-aalaga ang ginawa ni Maria. Pinatuka niya at pinaiinom ang mga ito
sa umaga, sa tanghali at sa hapon. Dinagdagan pa ito ng pagpapainom ng gamot at
pataba. At pinangarap ni Maria ang pagdating ng araw na magkakaroon siya ng mga inahing
manok na magbibigay ng maraming itlog.

Lumipas ang ilang buwan hanggang sa dumating ang araw na nag-itlog ang lahat na
inahing manok na alaga ni Maria. Labindalawang itlog ang ibinibigay ng mga inahing manok
araw-araw. At kinuwenta ni Maria ang bilang ng itlog na ibibigay ng labindalawang alagang
manok sa loob ng pitong araw sa isang linggo. Kitang-kita ang saya ni Maria sa kanyang
pangarap.

At inipon na nga ni Maria ang itlog ng mga inahing manok sa araw-araw. Nabuo ito sa
limang dosenang itlog. At isang araw ng linggo ay pumunta sa bayan si Maria. Sunong niya
ang limang dosenang itlog. Habang nasa daan ay nangangarap nang gising si Maria.
Ipagbibili niyang lahat ang limang dosenang itlog. Pagkatapos, bibili siya ng magandang tela,
ipapatahi niya ito ng magandang bistida at saka lumakad siya ng pakendeng-kendeng.
Lalong pinaganda ni Maria ang paglakad nang pakendeng-kendeng at BOG!

Nahulog ang limang dosenang itlog! Hindi nakapagsalita si Maria sa kabiglaan. Saka
siya umiyak nang umiyak. Naguho ang kanyang pangarap kasabay ng pagbagsak ng limang
dosenang itlog na kanyang sunung-sunong.
 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30

SI PINKAW
(Maikling kwentong Hiligaynon)

Isabelo S. Sobrevega

Naalimpungatan ako sa pag-idlip nang hapong iyon dahil sa napakaingay na sigawan

at tawanan ng mga bata sa lansangan. Napilitan akong bumangon, nagpahid ng pawis at
dumungaw sa bintana. Si pinkaw pala na sinusundan ng mga bata. May karga-kargang kung
ano at pasayaw-sayaw na naglalakad. Gula-gulanit ang kanyang damit na ilang ulit nang
tinagpian, at ang isang paa’y may medyas na marahil ay asul o berde. Hindi ko matiyak dahil
malayu-layo na rin ang kanyang kinaroroonan. Sa kabilang binti, may nakataling pulang papel
na may nakakabit na lata ng gatas sa dulo. Sa kanyang ulo, may nakapatong na palarang
kumikinang tuwing tinatamaan ng araw.

“Hoy, Pinkaw,” sigaw ng isang batang nakasandong abot tuhod at may itinatawing-
tawing na daga, “kumanta ka nag ng blak is blak.”

“Sige na, Pinkaw,” udyok ng iba pang mga bata.

“Ayoko nga, nahihiya ako,” pakiyemeng sagot ng babae sabay subo sa daliri.

“Kung ayaw mo, aagawin naming ang anak mo!” nakangising sabat ng pinakamalaki
sa lahat. Mahaba ang buhok at nakakorto llamang. At umambang aagawin an gang karga ni
Pinkaw. Umatras ang babae at hinigpitan pa ang yapos sa kanyang karga.

Nagsigawan ang mga bata habang pasayaw-sayaw na pinalilibutan si Pinkaw.

“Sige, agawin natin ang kanyang anak,” sabi nila sabay halakhak.

Maya-maya’y nakita kong sumalampak si Pinkaw at nag-iiyak na tumadyak-tadyak sa

lupa.

“Huwag ni’yo namang kunin ang anak ko. Isusumbong ko kayo sa mayor.” Patuloy pa rin
ang panunudyo ng mga bata sa babae. Lalong lumakas ang hagulgol ni Pinkaw. bata!

Naawa ako sa babae at nainis sa mga bata. Kaya’t sinigawan ko sila upang takutin.
“Hoy, mga bata! Mga salbahe kayo. Tigilan n’yo iyang panunukso sa kanya.”

Marahil natakot sa lakas ng pagsigaw ko ang mga bata kaya’t isa-isang nag-alisan.
Nang wala na ang mga bata, tumingala sa akin si Pinkaw at nagsabing:

“Meyor, kukunin nila ang aking anak.”

Hindi ko napigilan ang pagngiti. May korone

L, may sardyen, may senador siyang tawag sa akin at ngayon nama’y mayor. “O sige,
hindi na nila kukunin iyan. Huwag ka nang umiyak.”
 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30
Nginitian niya ako. Inihele ang karga. Nahulog ang basahang nakabalot doon at nakita
kong lata pala iyon ng biskwit. Dali-dali niyang pinulot iyon at muling ibinalot sa lata.

“Hele-hele, tulog muna, wla rito ang iyong nanay...” ang kanyang kanta habang
ipinaghehehebat siya’y patiyad na sumasayaw-sayaw.

Pagdating niya sa harap ng kanyang barungbarong, agad niyang tatawagin ang mga
anak: “Poray, Basing, Takoy, nanadito na ako.” At ang mga ito’y kaagad magtatakbuhang
magkasalubong sa kanya habang hindi magkaringgan sa pagtatanong kung may uwi siyang
jeans na istretsibol; ano ang kanilang pananghalian, nakabili raw ba siya ng bitsukoy?

Dalawang taon kaming magkapitbahay ngunit hindi ko man lang nabatid ang tunay
niyang pangalan. “Pinkaw” ang tawag ng lahat sa kanya. Ayon sa kanya, balo na raw siya.
Namatay ang kanyang asawa sa sakit na epilepsy habang dinadala niya sa kanyang
sinapupunan ang bunsong anak. Subalit sinusumpa ni Pisyang sugarol sa kanyang paborit ong
santo na hindi raw kailanman nakasal si Pinkaw. Iba-iba raw ang mga ama ng kanyang tatlong
anak. Ang kanyang panganay na si Poray, ay labis na mataas para sa kanyang gulang na
labintatlong taon at napakapayat. Tuwing makikita mo itong nakasuot ng istretsibol na dala ng
ina mula sa tambakan, agad mong maaalala ang mga panakot-uwak sa maisan. Si Basing ang
pangalawa, sungi na ngunit napakahilig pumangos ng tubo gayong umaagos lamang ang
katas nito sa biyak ng kanyang labi. Ang bunso na marahil ay mga tatlong taon pa lamang ay
maputi at gwapong-gwapo. Ibang-iba siya sa kanyang mga kapatid kaya minsa’y maiisip mo
na totoo nga ang sinasabi ni Pisyang sugarol.

“Ang mga bata,” nasabi niya minsang bumibili ng tuyo sa tindahan at nakitang
pinapalo ng isang ina ang maliit na anak na nahuling tumitingin sa malalaswang larawan.
“Hindi kailangang paluin; sapat nang sabihan sila nang malumanay. Iba ang batang nakikinig
sa magulang dahil sa paggalang at pagmamahal. Ang bata kung saktan, susunod siya sa iyo
subalit magrerebelde at magkikimkim ng sama ng loob.”

Sa tunggalian ng kabuhayan sa tambakan, kung saan ang tao ay handang tumapak sa

ilong ng kapwa-tao upang mabuhay, nakapagtataka ang katangian ni Pinkaw. lubha siyang
matulungin, lalo na sa katulad niyang naghahalukay lamang ng basura. Madalas siyang
tumutulong sa pagtutulak ng kariton ng iba, lalo na ng matatanda at bata. Sinasabi rin na sa
pagsisimba niya tuwing linggo’y hindi kukulangin sa beinte sentimos ang ipinamamahagi niya sa
pulubi.

Batid ng lahat sa tambakan ang mga ito. Minsan, nagkasakit ng El Tor ang sunging anak
ni Pinkaw. nagtungo siya sa suking Intsik. Nakiusap na pautangin siya. Magpapahiram naman
daw ang Intsik ngunit sa isang kundisyon. Bukambibig na ang pagkahayok sa babae ng Intsik
na ito, kaya pinagdugtong-dugtong ng mga taga-tambakan kung ano ang kundisyong iyon,
sapagkat wala naman talagang nakasaksi sa pag-uusap ng dalawa. Batid na ng lahat ang
sumunod na nangyari. Ang pagkabasag ng kawali na inihambalos ni Pinkaw sa ulo ng Intsik.

Hindi rin nadala ni Pinkaw sa doctor ang kanyang anak. Pag-uwi niya, naglaga siya ng
dahon ng bayabas at ipinainom sa anak. Iyon lamang ang nagpagaling sa bata.
 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30
“Nagpapatunay pa rin na may awa ang Diyos. Kung ninais niyang mamatay ang aking
anak, sanay namatay na. Ngunit dahil nais pa niyang mabuhay ito, nabuhay na kahit hindi
naipaduktor,” sabi ni Pinkaw nang magpunta siya sa tindahan bago pa man gumaling ang
kanyang anak.

Naganap ang susunod na pangyayari ng wala ako sa amin sapagkat nasa bahay ako
ng kapatid kong maysakit. Isinalaysay na lamang ito ng aking mga kapitbahay pagbalik ko, at
matinding galit ang aking nadama sa kanila.

Isang araw pala, matapos mananghalian ang mag-anak, bigla na lamang namilipit sa
sakit ngtiyan ang mga bata. Marahil, sardinas o anumang panis na pagkain ang naging sanhi
nito.

Kaya natatarantang itinulak ni Pinkaw ang kanyang kariton sa isa ppang duktor.
Matagal siyang tumimbre sa trangkahan ngunit walang nagbukas gayong nakita niyang may
sumisilip-silip sa bintana.

Litong-lito, itinulak na naman ni Pinkaw ang kanyang kariton papuntang bayan. Halos
din a makakilos sa pangangapos ng hininga, bukod pa sa lubhang kalungkutan sa pagiging
maramot ng kapalaran. Ipinagpatuloy niya ang pagtulak ng kariton.

Nang makarating siya sa punong kalsada, maraming sasakyan siyang pinapahinto

upang isakay ang maysakit na mga anak, ngunit wala ni isa man lang ang tumigil. Maya-
maya’y napansing hindi na kumikilos ang kanyang panganay. Sinalat niya ito at parang
sinakluban siya ng langit nang mabatid niyang ito’y hindi na humihinga. Humahagulgol niyang
ipinagpatuloy ang pagtulak ng kariton upang sikaping mailigtas ang buhay ng dalawa pa
niyang anak. Maraming tao ang nagmamasid lamang sa kanya ngunit nakapagtataka kung
bakit wala man lang kahit isa ang lumapit sa kanya upang tumulong. Tumatalbog-talbog ang
katawan ng kanyang mga anak sa kariton tuwing dumaraan ito sa lubak-lubak na kalsada.

Pakiramdam niya’y isang daang taon na lumipas bago niya narating ang ospital ng
pamahalaan. Matapos ang pagtuturuan ng mga duktor at nars, na ang binibigyang pansin
lamang ay ang mga pasyenteng mukhang mayaman, nalapatan din ng gamut ang dalawang
anak ni Pinkaw.

Kinagabiha’y namatay si Basing, ang sungi. Dalawang araw pa ang lumipas at

sumusunod namang namatay ang bunso.

Nakarinig na naman ako ng mga ingay. Muli akong dumungaw. Bumalik si Pinkaw,
sinusundan na naman ng mga pilyong bata.

“Hele-hele, tulog muna. Wala rito ang iyong nanay...” ang kanta niya habang
ipinaghehele sa kanyang mga bisig ang binihisang lata.
 West Visayas State University
(Formerly Iloilo Normal School)
CALINOG CAMPUS
Office of the Cultural Affairs

2023 LITERARY-MUSICAL CONTEST

“WVSU-CC: Pushing the Boundaries of Excellence via Culture and Arts.”
November 28-30