Flying on a Heap

In a few hours I will sit for nearly a day among total strangers with one thing in common – we shall convince ourselves that a heap of metal, rubber, glass, plastic and other materials held together by technology (or magic, faith, man's arrogance? what's a better term?) will successfully (if not safely) take us across vast masses of land and water.

I wrote this poem many years ago while flying from Manila to Cape Town – today I fly the other direction, and maybe some day a poem from this current trip will be born. I've attempted a translation to accompany this post. The original Filipino appears in my book Baha-bahagdang Karupukan.

Kalawakang Binabagtas

lumilipad akong pabalik sa panahon

na anim na oras paatras

palayo sa sinapupunan

palalim nang palalim sa gabi

itong eroplano,

patay na ang mga ilaw sa napakahabang pasilyo

nakabalabal kami ng maninipis na kumot

humihinga ng hanging hiram lamang

sa kalawakang binabagtas

nakatiklop ang aking mga binti

nais bumulusok pauwi

sa payapang lawang pinagmulan

samantala, pinupuno ng mga sinag

ng bagong umaga ang inyong silid

at malapit ka nang magising, inay

paggising ninyo ang aking pagtulog

at higit pa sa anim na oras

ang muling mamamagitan sa ating daigdig

-o-

translation attempt 9abril2012 (I fly in a few hours)

1323-1341

pb2

The Space We Cross

I am flying back in time

six hours behind

away from where I was born*

deeper into the night

this plane plunges,

lights turned down in the long passage

we are wrapped in thin blankets

breathing air borrowed

from the space we cross

like a fetus with legs folded,

I wish to fall back home

into the calmness of a lake

meanwhile, rays of light

begin to fill your room

just before you wake up, mother

as you rise it will be time for me to seek

slumber, and more than mere six hours

rend me from your world

-o-

*the Filipino word "sinapupunan" means womb, but in translation it sounds inappropriate

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