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Dugnas / Shedding
Written and translated from Binísaya by Marjorie Evasco
Marjorie Evasco
Dugnas
Hangin sa Enerong bugnaw mihapak sa mga tanom nga mikurog sa kabugason. Gabon gikan sa Amihan gadala og timaan sa kabag-ohan nga galikop sa kalibotan. Kaniadtong miaging bulan kalachuchi namulak og taman human sa tulo katuig pag-atiman. Matag pungpong kamot kahibulongan mituyhakaw pataas sa kalangitan alimyon misayaw-sayaw sa kahanginan. Nangadalag na ang mga dahon ug nangatagak ang mga bulak gilantaw sa gasalop nga bulan. Ug nakaamgo ako sa katugnaw samtang namisbis sa tugkaran nakabati’g pagpangluto sa kabukogan Subasko sa tingdugnas.
Shedding
Wind of cold January slams into the garden shivering at daybreak. Dew from Amihan brings signs of change racking the world. Last month kalachuchi bloomed after three years of tending. Each bouquet wondrous hands lifted up to the skies scent dancing in the breeze. The leaves are now wilted and its flowers have fallen watched over by moonset. And I sense the chill while watering the plants hear the creak of bones Windstorm of shedding-time.
Marjorie Evasco, is a SEAWRITE laureate (2010, Philippines) and National Commission of Culture and the Arts (NCCA) 2011 Ani ng Dangal awardee. Six of her books have won National Book Awards for poetry, oral history, biography, and art. She is a University Fellow, Professor Emeritus (Literature), and Writer-in-Residence of De La Salle University-Manila, where she teaches in the Literature Department’s graduate programs. She commutes between her townhome in Manila with a bamboo garden and three cats, and a blue and white apartment in Bohol three minutes from the sea.
