Kakambal-Kaluluwa / I Don’t Ever Wish to Get Used to This – 9 of 14 Love Poems from Baha-bahagdang Karupukan and Alien to Any Skin

Kakambal-Kaluluwa

Pagbalik mula sa lamig

ng banyo, marahang-marahan

kong inilatag muli

sa iyong tabi

ang aking katawang

damang-dama pa ang lagablab.

Sinubukan kong magpatangay

sa daloy ng iyong himbing.

Ngunit sinakop na ng liwanag

ang buong silid.

Tila lumang larawan

gayong sariwang-sariwa

ang lahat sa aking mga mata.

Gaano man katagal akong pumikit

at bumaling-baling

sa malakuwebang dilim

ng makakapal na kumot,

alam ng katawan na ito

ang pagbangong kaniig ng dati

at bagung-bago pa ring umaga

ngayong kapiling ka na

sa paglalakbay

sa pagkamangha

sa kaliwanagan.

-o-

I Don’t Ever Wish to Get Used to This

version 2

I return from the cold

bathroom, lay

my body next to yours

again, still seething

from the flames.

I try to be swept away

by the waves of your slumber.

But light has begun

to flood the room.

Even as I know everything

is new to me, I stare and see

a yellowed photograph.

I turn over, shut my eyes

for stretches of time

under the darkness

of thick blankets,

yet this body knows

the moment of rising

that goes with dawns

past and newly breaking.

-o-

This poem, 9 of 14 Love Poems. It appears in Baha-bahagdang Karupukan. The English version is not so much a translation as a reworking because the more accurate translation I attempted came out sounding trite. I wonder if that shows one difference between the two languages, or if it just means I wrote a crappy poem in the first place. haha.

Filed under: 14 Love Poems from Baha-bahagdang Karupukan and Alien to Any Skin, Mga Tula / Poetry, poetry Tagged: Alien to Any Skin, Baha-bahagdang Karupukan, Filipino poetry, Jim Pascual Agustin, Kakambal-Kaluluwa, Philippines, poetry, UST Publishing House