Your wounded bodyFits the old mattress.Your death corrupts time.Still is the hut, whileFighters stifle cries.In the forest, warGoes on, and the sunDries the wet puddles.Paradise awaits youNow. The peaceYou died for remainsA hopeful promise.Now we both returnBut part ways. I go backTo the forest. You, to Him.
The child’s eye peeks into the holesOne to anotherOf the masjid’s walls, innocentOf the terror of old nights,Of wounds and laments. The holes won’t showThe burning trees,No longer the lifeless scree.The smoke invisible,The spilled blood dries. Only the swaying leavesDew from yesterday’s rainFlash before his eyes. He seesAnd hears the river revived. As he glancesThrough the eyehole once more,He...
How are the sunsetsOf the old mujahid?Melancholy overThe dormant, rusted boloThe sole unyoung rifleSpangled with scarsFrom trenches forgottenGnaws at his bonesThe growing dark.When will the sunset everSlip out without notice? The last rays through curtainHoles before himStays his solitude.His dead war comradesMarch in single file.He hears bombsFlight of bulletsSmell of earthDamp grass again. But...
I. In their bamboo huts, where bulletsCould trace them, they tried to hideBehind their mothers’ bodies as ifThey could be infants in wombs again. Their mothers’ pleas the only shield,“Tama na! Mga sibilyan lang mi!”But foes remained unmindful—the earsDid not hear what the hearts refused to see. Like dominoes standing, the mothers fell.Blood ran to the edges of bamboo floorsBefore they even hit...
to Mufti Ismail Menk When grenades rumbled in Lanao forests,I thought the dream would remain a dreamIn slumbers during nights of sweat and pain.The nights when more eyes were rather awake,Peeking at open windows, than asleep and calm. Now those eyes are fixed onto you, sparklingLike dew over leaves when the sun rises.I am the eagle observing everything. In this place where a Maranao sits with a...
Pagkawaray la puloshini nga sug-ang!Puthaw, ugaring,usa nga tuko, balikoan usa utod, sanglit halipot.Baga la hit ak kaluluthanbisan anhon pagbangil,sige it kinimpang-kimpang. Diin daw la ininapurutan ni Zenai?Dibris man dawini ni Yolanda.Maliwanan ko gihap ini.Kunta, sunod nga semana.Di pa man ngani kinahanglanpumalit hin bugas,kay, mayda pa mansalin han relip.Pati tinapa.Igo-igo gad lapara kanan...
Naghinuna-huna ako hadto han assignment namon kan Maam Sela samtang nangunguli. Waray ko man hingyap magin. Hi Carl nga pasimuno hit kompyuter kun udto, karuyag kuno magdrayber. Hi Jaymee liwat nga katupad ko kun science karuyag kuno mag-doctor. Di pa gud ak maaram magdrowing kun ano tak karuyag magin. Nasing ak, mangangalot na la ak hadto kun ano it ak igbabaton hit next meeting kan Maam. Nakit...
Translated by the author and Michael Carlo C. Villas Original work I thought about homework for Ma’am Sela’s class on my way home. I didn’t dream to be anything or anyone. Carl, who masterminds computer games every afternoon, wanted to be a driver. Jaymee, my seatmate in Science class, wanted to be a doctor. I had no idea I was going to draw what I would like to be. I’ll surely be scratching my...
Siring han iba ko nga kasangkayanig-delete ko daw an album namon ha Manila.Kamag-upay la hit amon mga selfiedida hiton nga amon urhi nga pagkita.Kahuhugot hit amon mga hangkopngan kalalamrag hit amon mga ngisi.Nahahamutan ko pa an ak aftershave creamnga iya gin-arbor ha akon.Tara, di ko gud man it hira igdi-delete.baga saho ha makakita! Traynta mil an text messagesniya ha akon ngan akon ha...
An nahinabo san una nga gab-i,iba san durudlong nga imo hinihingyap— Di mo pa nababatian an kutsaranga nalagatak san tasa nga kapihan,Nagpupukaw sa imo sugadsan nahiuna nga mga aga. Pero diri kinahanglan an pagpukawsan waray kurukaturog.Hinungdan ini san mabug-at mo nga mga mata;Masuol pa an imo kalawasan. Diri mo kaya tuhayonan mga iginrigalo sa iyo nga mga basongan plato nga nagkabuong,o bisan...