ni E. SAN JUAN, Jr.
"....Iniluwa ko na ang galit sa pusong nagpupuyos
Nang putulin ang aking binti, ngunit di pa rin nakaligtas
Sa sumpa ng marahas na kalagayan-- O Yolanda! Yolanda!
Walang kailangan, elastiko't "resilient" daw ako
Mapagbigay, pigil ang luha't tiis ang gutom--sino sila?
Sina Gabriela Silang, Gregoria de Jesus, Lorena Barros kaya iyon?
Di ko malilimutan, O Yolanda! malanding Yolanda!
Ang kasakiman at kalupitan, di ko mapapahintulutang
Di sumpain ang walang katarungang rehimen ng mga oligarko--
Nawa'y di yumuko't umindayog lamang sa turista
Ang anak ko, tumigas siya tulad ng molabe't lawan sa gubat
Di makuhang ipaghampasan ng dayuhan-- O Haiyan! O Haiyan!
Ayaw kong lumuhod sa Bibliya tulad ni Manny Pacquiao
Habang dumarating ang mga kasamang armado mula sa dagat--
Ayaw kong ipagpaumanhin ang walang-hiyang panginoon,
"Pork-barrel" tulisang busog sa 'ting dalamhati't pagluluksa--
Tigil na ang pagpapabaya, bumabangon ang sambayanan--
Haiyan, O Haiyan, walang-hiyang sigwa ng himagsikan...."
(Iyan ang iniluwang galit ng bangkay--O Yolanda! O Haiyan!--
na dating ari ni Richard Pulga, 27 anyos, taga-Tacloban, Leyte.)
[Namatay si Richard Pulga, 27 taon, sa Tacloban, Leyte, dahil
sa kakapusan ng tulong ng mediko; New York Times, 11/15/2013]
RICHARD PULGA'S SOUL REPLIES TO THE BAMBOO CURSE
(Translation by the author, E. San Juan, Jr.)
" I vomited the hate boiling in my furious heart
when my leg was amputated, but still I did not escape
the curse of the violent situation--O Yolanda! Yolanda!
Never mind, they said I'm elastic, "resilient"
ready to give way, suppressing tears and enduring hunger--who are they?
Are they pointing to Gabriela Silang, Gregoria de Jesus, Maria Lorena Bsrros?
I cannot forget it, O Yolanda! mischievous Yolanda!
The avarice and cruelty, I cannot allow that none will curse
this unjust regime of oligarchs, indeed I cannot--
I pray that my children will not bow nor sway for tourist's delight
And that they will stiffen, stay hard like the molave and lawan in the forest
that cannot be so easily twisted by invaders-- O Haiyan! O Haiyan!
I refuse to kneel down to the Bible mimicking Manny Pacquiao
While armed comrades slowly arrive from the ocean's horizon--
I don't want to plead for the vicious tyrants to be forgiven,
"Pork-barrel" thieves, criminals nourished by our pain and grief--
Halt, you careless heartless fools! The people are rising--
Haiyan, O Haiyan, shameless storm of revolution..."
(That's the vomited anger of the corpse--O Yolanda! O Haiyan!-
of what was once the property of Richard Pulga, 27 years old, dead at Tacloban, Leyte.)
[Richard Pulga, 27, died in Tacloban, Leyte, due to lack of medical care;
as reported in The New York Times, 11/15/2013]
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