DE JA VU IN UNC-IMC
We were supposed to read one of our poems during the 2nd part of ‘Ratsada 2007’ held at the IMC of University of Nueva Caceres,
3 p.m., Feb. 28. Previously some students and members of the UNC
faculty rendered Bikol translations of classic poems by foreign writers
like William Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, William Blake, Percy Bysshe
Shelley, Basho, John Milton, Ben Johnson, etc. Noted translators were
Gode Calleja, Luis Cabalquinto, Rita Lladoc, JR Sanchez and others.
It was such a bonus when the girl who was to do the interpretative
dance for one of the poems happened to be my neighbor, occupying the
apartment unit next to mine. So now I know I have a dancer for a
blockmate. Now listening to the translated poems, I found some to be
very much different from the original. As they say, poetry is lost in
translation—but then it depends upon the skill of the translator. With
this we mean, he/she must have a full grasp and mastery of both English
and Bikol language.
When it was my turn I grabbed an old poem, an elegy written for beauty queen who died in mid-2005. My companion Tomas Navarro
also showed his wares (a Bikol poem at that, silencing the veterans)
during the open-mic. Right after the event, we met up with writers Elmo
Ramos and Djai Tanji
(who was with her friend Tanya) and had some chat in my apartment. Now,
Djai knew the object of my elegy personally, as they used to be barkadas in campus. She told us some things about how the girl died, how tragic it was. That is why Tomas and I chorused that we hate motorbikers who devilride. To hell with them.
Now I first met this
girl in the very spot where we had ‘Ratsada 2007’. It was the awarding
ceremony of a campus-based literary contest. She was the emcee and I
found her to be stunningly pretty and articulate. It turned out that
she was also one of the awardees for English poetry. Too bad, she died
too early. We could have invited her to our little poetry group.
Anyway, let me reprint the poem here:
ELEHIYA
Birtud sa puso
Sa batag su gayon mo,
Di ko nasalo.
Dipisil Moira,
Kin kagranan a asbu
Na kaaguw ko.
Gab-ing mangitngit,
Ika nagin santelmo,
Diri masulud.
Ika sakura
Mala ta ading raga,
Nagkolor pula.
Ika baliana,
Nagpalupad sa aruk,
Pagruta, abo.
(Bikol Reporter, Sept. 25-Oct. 1, 2005)
