Gab-’i / Night

Nagkikinain-kain ka ngani
nga pirmi ka man nasisidman?

Naabot ka kun nakakalakat na
iton lamrag.

Kapoy ka pirmi
kay ha pag-abot mo
nagdudulom iton kalarakan,
an mga bituon daw mga sada nga tak-om,
an mga hinimo han Makagarahom
natikang maghuring-huring
ha ira mga himangraw.

Pagal ka gad nga duro
hiton imo sudoy
kay ha imo pagkakaturog
naturo iton imo laway
ngada hiton mga dahon.

Hahapohapon ko iton imo bungkog.
Papakaturogon ko ikaw
tubtob nga umabot an
tigaman–an pangunat han sulhog
han sidlangan

imo na liwat ako
babayaan.

Where have you been going to
that the darkness constantly catches up with you?

You show up when daylight
has faded out.

You are always exhausted
because when you arrive
the sky gets heavy dark,
the stars look like closed doors,
and the creatures of God
start to whisper
in their conversations.

You must be truly tired
From your meandering
because in your sleep
your saliva dripped
down to the leaves.

I will soothe your weariness
with my caress,
and lull you to sleep
until the sign appears –
the rays of light stretching
from the east.

And you will leave me,
all by my lonesome, again.

Trans. from Waray by Dante A. Rosales

—
Voltaire Q. Oyzon an associate professor at Leyte Normal University in Tacloban City. His first poetry collection “An Maupay ha mga Waray” (The Good Thing About the Warays) was published by the National Commission for Culture & the Arts in 2008.He is now working on his second poetry collection tentatively entitled “Mga Bukad han mga Bangin” (Buds of Maybes).