Ing gitad mung diwa
lilingad na ing bubulung
ning kekang sari kalyap a salu;
Ya ing magpakalingwan king alingongo
ning kekang banal a tipan king payntungul
a mikalabyus tigik pangasakmal
king sasayu mung pamagkumwari.
Alang melakwang nanu mang bakas
ing linaso mung bakal a kapanaligan
king salamin ning milabas
nung nu’daka apagkamalyang
alang-kasingdalise pusu.
E ku pa mu rin balu nung sanu ing katutwan.
Kalabug ku na mata, binulag da ku pa
ring malinat mung pangimut a mikelangang terak,
mikelangang sigpo o sulapo
dapot sing-gaspang ning balat
ning sagiwang pakiling
at gagalasgas king isip kung limba-limbato
karing mangaimpis a biga ning kapikakunwan,
kapigaganakan
at kapamikelangan…
a
inya sa’t alang darasnan ing aligaga
kung pamaglakbe
a simbilis ning sinakurap a kildap
king kapitung bulan a kadunut-dunut pa mu—
ngening sagiwang sisilim.
Pamyalungan mu ku pa mu rin
anting lobong sing-tilo ning balawe,
inya sa’t pakatali mu ku
king kekang mapanggapus a suglap,
e bang iyawlang anting batu-batung malyap
nung e bang maging alipan na pa mu rin
ning alang-lunus a gitad mung diwa.
Flirt
Your flirty spirit
denies what is whispered
by your elusive heart;
It is what makes you forget the echoes
of your sacred vow to the future
that loosened the tightness of its grip
on your dripping with pretense.
No trace was left whatsoever
of the iron faith you melted
in the mirror of the past
when I mistook you
for an incomparably-pure heart.
I still don’t know the truth.
My eyesight is already bleary, yet still blinded
by your smooth moves that I mistake for dance,
either a leap or soar
but as rough as the skin
of fresh scrubbing leaves
that scratch on my wandering thoughts
on thin clouds
of doubts,
worries
and hesitation…
that
is why nothing is reached
by my hasty journeys
that are as fleeting
as the flash of lightning
in the seventh moon that has just waned—
now in this fresh twilight.
You still play with me
like a balloon that’s as lofty as an eagle,
that’s why you still bind me
with your enthralling glances,
not to be encaged like an elusive wild dove
but to be still enslaved
by your cruel flirty spirit.
