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Night Gown – 7 of 14 Love Poems from ... Kakambal-Kaluluwa / I Don’t Ever Wish...

Water Renders – 8 of 14 Love Poems from Baha-bahagdang Karupukan and Alien to Any Skin

This is poem 8 of 14 Love Poems. The original English is in Alien to Any Skin and I wrote the translation recently. I recorded and made the video some time ago.

Water Renders

for Margaret Christine Ziffo

Our footsteps muffled by moistness

of earth. Soft as prayers

our voices.

I have never spoken like this.

Not even to myself. It is our presence

in this landscape.

Stillness of pine trees veiled

by sheerest mist.

Rice terraces hewn beyond time.

The sound of distant thunder,

so distant it seems

more like a memory shared.

Somewhere else, in centuries

we can no longer recall,

we must have lived this same moment.

Water renders the texture of this earth

to cling to our feet. Reminding us

forever of the caverns beneath Sagada.

Rivers, jagged edges, dark realms we left

unvisited. Perhaps for another time.

For now, we delve into spaces

made intimate by words

and silences. Our breaths

ethereal.

May 2000

-o-

subok-salin ng “Water Renders”

Paghugis ng Tubig

para kay Margaret Christine Ziffo

Kulob ang ating mga hakbang

dahil sa basang lupa. Simpino ng panalangin

ang ating mga tinig.

Hindi kailanman ako nangusap nang ganito.

Maging sa aking sarili. Bunga ng ating

pananatili sa tanglawing ito.

Kawalang-tinag ng mga pinong may belo

ng pinakamanipis na hamog.

Baha-bahagdang palayang inukit sa panahon.

Dagundong ng malayong kulog,

napakalayo na animo

gunitang kapwa dinanas.

Sa ibang lugar, sa siglong

hindi na natin maalala, binuhay marahil

natin ang mismong sandaling ito.

Mga ilog, mga hangganang baku-bako,

madidilim na kahariang ipinagpaliban

natin ang pagdalaw. Sa ibang panahon

na lamang. Sa ngayon, sinasaliksik natin

ang mga puwang na pinagtalik ng mga salita

at katahimikan. Ang ating hininga,

tila alapaap.

-o-