Tupong sa
  Hungot

Thanks to the RDL-CLEAR, the Cebuano Studies Center of the University of San Carlos in Cebu City; thanks to the SANROKAN, the first Romblon International Convention held at the capital town on 26 April – 2 May 2002, that were it not for them, the 19th Cornelio F. Faigao Memorial Annual Writers Workshop would not have been brought to the poet’s home province.

Started in 1984 by the Cebuano Studies Center in honor of the late Romblomanon poet, who came to live and spent his career in Cebu as a poet, jouranalit and educator, it was indeed a historic milestone for the province and a sort of homecoming for the nationally renowned poet born in Banton, Romblon.

It’s all the more meaningful this time as the Asi tongue, one of the three major languages in the province and Faigao’s first language, was represented in the writeshop by Ismael F. Fabicon as one of the panelists and this writer as fellow for Bantoanon/Asi poetry.

Faigao’s oevre as a poet and writer had been mostly in English, but as what I had proposed somewhere else, his poery, considered in the so-called “translinguistic point of  view” first suggested by the critic Isagani R. Cruz, reflect and express his native Bantoanon / Filipino voice and sensibility, though wrought in a received language. It was for the same reason that Gimeno Z. Abad, poet and critic, had it proposed earlier that “it is impossible to read our literature in English without knowing the vernaculars”, and that oour Filipino poetry in English “is as old as our hundred indigenous languages”. In the case of Faigao, it was the Bantoanon / Asi Language.

With this foremost in mind, I have tried translating three of Faigao’s poems (those available to me the time I was making the draft of this column) to see how they would take shape in Asi. To my utter surprise (and delight!), they all lend themselves easily into Bantoanon and in free verse!

The question is: Would they have taken the same shape had Faigao wrote them in his native language? To this, we can not be so sure with our answers: nevertheless I dared offering then here for your consideration or, if you will, delectation. Buko baga ngani gingsisiling nak wayaey it matam-is pang bibisar-on kaysa sa sariling bisaya ag pulong?

SAMBUGKOS NAK HANRUMANAN
A Bundke of Love Letters (1932)

Nagpapapanguyog kag kidamot pagsantik sa posporong nagkurog,
Kag mga papel tuyar sa usang rahon ay nagkudab;
Usang hanrom kag nagpugong sa rila it rayab nak ruha-ruha,
Ag tuyar sa kyadong dati ay nag-apot sa tagi-pusoon,
Ngasing ay nagpayong. Sauyo nidang tanan kag inra mga suyor,
Katong mga bughaw, puti, kolor-rosas nak pulong nak hator;
Gingbugkos nida uli’t kag raang pamugkos
Habang mga yuha’y usa-usang nanggitikrag it waya sa buot.
Sinra, kung sa ida, ay mga pabangyong bihira ag mahay
It batan-ong mga tuig bag-o gugma ay magyupar
Ag kabuhi ay kabuot ag hanrom ay waya lason;
Hanrumanan it gugmang hugot nak kag rayab ay nagsungon
Ugaling kung sug-an man, rugha’y indi mapagyuyot
Sinrang mahay ag rugayey nak gingtitibawang yunsor it tagipusuon.

GAB-I SA USANG MAISOT NAK BANWA
Night in a Small Town (1935)

Rili’y kag manipis nak hangin yang
Kag ging-uugar it marayom nak kahipos;
Rili ka mga gab-i’y nupay perming
Bunbon it bituon.
Ako sa ak gaha’y nagpapainuino
Ag usang anak ako
Sa silong it nipang pawor nak atop,
Sa silong it kanidugan sa langit nak payar.
Kag itom nak mga atop ay mga kabaong
Sa irayom it bughaw nak arko it langit;
Kag hangin ay nagbayos pagtapyak it mga panambitanon
Ag ka mga mugtaw nak mga iro ay nanggigitayuyong.
Nanggipanguyog kag tumbo it mga kahoy,
Makatitingaya, makahahadlok;
Sa ibabaw ay kasanag
Ag timunon nak katahom.
A, gab-it ak pagyuos
Paagto sa baktason.
Katahuman sa ak ginghangran,
Sa katupar kamatayan!

TIMAANAN
Code (1933)

Kung ako ma’y inggwa’t lugar sa suyok it ing rughan,
Kinahangyang ak matunrugan.
Insulip kung adlaw sa langit ay nagsisigay,
Mga pulong ay magyupar.
Sa ing gaha – tatlong buyak kag palastar,
Singgon pa’y Oho, imaw.
O tatlong paso nak waya buyak ag bumbon it rahon,
Kung buko ka buot singgon.
Kag silak ay nagsikarey, nagririlag sa ing gaha,
Nagruyog kag palibor.
Hilera kag buyak, bawa’t usa’y mutda,
Limang tanan gador.

Picture
courtesy of Faigao Museum,
Banton, Romblon