(translated from poet Rebecca T. Añonuevo’s “NALIPATÁN,” 7 September 2015)
What humanity forgot,
the sea remembered.
It cradled the young,
delivered them to dreams.
Sky beneath the water,
playmates of prismed fish.
Coral that rippled
as if with laughter.
Dimpled calves in the gaps
that may have tickled the soles of their feet.
All creatures large and small,
living in each other’s midst
released from fear and war.
The waves have rescued the innocent
that they might no longer wake
to the cold stones, the earth’s
indifferent kiss at the edge
of the shore.
*
NALIPATÁN
Rebecca T. Añonuevo
Ang nalipatán ng tao,
Naalala ng dagat.
Idinuyan ang musmos,
Ihinatid sa panaginip.
Langit sa ilalim ng tubig,
Mga kalarong isda, sarikulay,
Mga korales na umiindak
At naghahalakhakan,
Mga binti ng pugitang
Nangingiliti ng talampakan.
Malalaki’t maliliit na nilalang,
Na nabubuhay sa isa’t isa,
Malaya sa pangamba at digmaan.
Iniligtas ng alon ang walang muwang,
Nang hindi na magising
Sa malamig at mabato, malayong-loob
Na paghalik ng lupa sa dalampasigan.
7 Setyembre 2015