HAWLA

I
lumingon ka sa akin
himig ko'y iyong dinggin
ihanda sa laman ng damdamin

II
gusto ko nang aminin
matagal ko nang lihim
na ako sa'yo ay may pagtingin

bridge:
hahayaan ko na lang
lumipad
bagwis ng pag-ibig
kamay ay iunat

chorus:
at aasa sa paglaya
sa hawla ng takot
aasa sa simula at
sa bukas ay ako'y
maniniwala na..

at aasa sa paglaya
sa hawla ng takot
aasa sa simula at
sa bukas ay ako'y
maniniwala na..


http://www.filipinowriter.com/hawla-0

INDARAPATRA AT SULAYMAN

Noong unang panahon ayon sa alamat ng pulong Mindanaw, 
ay wala ni kahit munting kapatagan.  Pawang kabundukan 
ang tinatahanan ng maraming taong doo’y namumuhay 
maligaya sila sapagkat sagana sa likas na yaman. 
Subalit ang lagim ay biglang dumating sa kanilang bundok 
na dati’y payapa.  Apat na halimaw ang doo’y nanalot. 
Una’y si Kurita na maraming paa at ganid na hayop 
pagka’t sa pagkain kahit limang tao’y kanyang nauubos. 
Ang Bundok Matutum ay tinirhan naman ng isang halimaw 
na may mukhang tao na nakatatakot kung ito’y mamasdan, 
ang sino mang tao na kanyang mahuli’y agad nilalapang, 
at ang laman nito’y kanyang kinakain na walang anuman. 
Ang ikatlo’y si Pah na ibong malaki.  Pag ito’y lumipad 
ang Bundok na Bita ay napadidilim niyong kanyang pakpak, 
ang lahat ng tao’y sa kuweba tumahan upang makaligtas 
sa salot na itong may matang malinaw at kukong matalas. 
Ang Bundok Kurayang pinananahanan ng maraming tao 
ay pinapaglagim ng isa pang ibong may pitong ulo; 
walang makaligtas sa bagsik ng kanyang matalas na kuko  
pagkat maaaring kanyang matanaw ang lahat ng dako. 
Ang kalagim -lagim na kinasapitan ng pulong Mindanaw 
ay nagdulot ng lungkot sa maraming baya’t mga kaharian; 
Si Indarapatra na haring mabait, dakila’t marangal 
ay agad nag-utos sa kanyang kapatid na prinsipeng mahal. 
“Prinsipe Sulayman, ako’y sumasamo na iyong iligtas
ang maraming taong nangangailangan ng tulong mo’t habag.” 
“O mahal na hari na aking kapatid, ngayon di’y lilipad 
at maghihiganti sa mga halimaw ang talim ng tabak.”
Binigyan ng singsing at isang espada ang kanyang kapatid 
upang sandatahin sa pakikibaka.  Kanyang isinabit 
sa munting bintana ang isang halaman at saka nagsulit; 
“ang halamang ito’y siyang magsasabi ng iyong nasapit.” 
Nang siya’y dumating sa tuktok ng bundok na pinaghaharian 
nitong si Kurita, siya ay nagmasid at kanyang natunghan 
ang maraming nayong wala kahit isang taong tumatahan; 
“Ikaw’y magbabayad, mabangis na hayop!” yaong kanyang sigaw. Di pa nagtatagal ang kanyang sinabi, nagimbal ang bundok 
at biglang lumbas itong si Kuritang sa puso’y may poot; 
sila ay nagbaka at hindi tumigil hangga’t malagot  
ang tanging hininga niyong si Kuritang sa lupa ay salot. 
Tumatag ang puso nitong si Sulayman sa kanyang tagumpay 
kaya’t sa Matutum, ang hinanap naman ay si Tarabusaw; 
sa tuktok ng bundok ay kanyang namalas ang nakahahambal 
na mga tanawin:  “Ngayon di’y lumabas nang ikaw’y mamatay.” 
Noon di’y nahawi ang maraming puno sa gilid ng bundok, 
at ilang saglit pa’y nagkakaharap na silang puso’y nagpupuyos. 
Yaong si Sulayma’y may hawak na tabak na pinang-uulos; 
ang kay Tarabusaw na sandata nama’y sangang panghambalos. 
At sa paghahamok ng dalawang iyong balita sa tapang
Ang ganid na hayop sa malaking pagod ay napahandusay. 
“Ang takdang oras mo ngayo’y dumating na,” sigaw ni Sulayman 
At saka sinaksak ng kanyang sandata ang tusong halimaw. 
Noon di’y nilipad niyong si Sulayman ang Bundok ng Bita; 
siya’y nanlumo pagka’t ang tahanan sa tao’y ulila; 
ilang sandal pa ay biglang nagdilim gayong maaga pa
at kanyang natantong ang kalabang ibon ay dumating na. 
Siya’y lumundag at kanyang tinaga ang pakpak ng ibon, 
datapwat siya rin ang sinamang-palad na bagsakan niyon; 
sa bigat ng pakpak, ang katawan niya sa lupa bumaon
kaya’t si Sulayman noon ay nalibing nang walang kabaong. 
Ang kasawiang ito ay agad nabatid ng mahal na Hari 
pagka’t ang halaman noon di’y nalanta’t sanga’y nangalabi; 
“Siya ay patay na!” ang sigaw ng kanyang namumutlang labi, 
“Ang kamatayan mo’y ipaghihiganti buhay ma’y masawi.” 
Nang siya’y dumating sa Bundok ng Bita ay kanyang kinuha 
ang pakpak ng ibon.  Ang katawang pipi ay kanyang namalas 
nahabag sa kanya ang kanyang bathala; biglang nagliwanag 
at ilang saglit pa ay nakita niya ang tubig na lunas. 
Kanyang ibinuhos ang tubig na iyon sa lugaming bangkay, 
at laking himala!  Ang kanyang kapatid ay dagling nabuhay, 
sila ay nagyakap sa gitna ng galak at ng katuwaan, 
saka pinauwi itong si Sulayman sa sariling bayan. 
Sa bundok Kurayan na kanyang sinapit ay agad hinanap 
ang ibong sa tao’y nagbibigay-lagim at nagpapahirap; 
dumating ang ibong kaylaki ng ulo at kukong matalas
subalit ang kalis ni Indarapatra’y nagwagi sa wakas
Sa kanyang tagumpay may isang diwatang bumating magalang, “Salamat sa iyo butihing bayani na ubod ng tapang, 
kaming mga labi ng ibong gahaman ngayo’y mabubuhay.” 
at kanyang namalas ang maraming taong noo’y nagdiriwang. 
Nabihag ang puso ng mahal na hari sa ganda ng mutya
kaya’t sa naroon ay kanyang hiniling na lakip ang sumpa 
na sila’y ikasal.  Noon di’y binuklod ng isang adhika 
ang kanilang puso.  “Mabuhay ang hari!” ang sigaw ng madla. 
Ang tubig ng dagat ay tila hinigop sa kailaliman; 
at muling lumitaw ang lawak ng lupang pawang kapatagan, 
si Indarapatra’y hindi na bumalik sa sariling bayan, 
at dito naghari sa mayamang lupa ng pulong Mindanaw. 




http://bse.portal.ph/download/BSE%20site_/BSE%20WEBSITE%202010/2010SEC/Fil/Epiko%20INDARAPATRA.pdf

.BALIW.

.♥Bulag, Pipi at Bingi♥.

Valediction sa Hillcrest by: Rolando Tinio

Pagkacollect ng Railway Express sa aking things
(Derecho na iyon sa barko while I take the plane),
Inakyat kong muli ang N-311 at dahil dead of winter,
Nakatopcoat at galoshes akong
Nagright turn sa N wing ng mahabang dilim
(Tunnel yatang aabot hanggang Tondo.
Kinapa ko ang switch sa hall.
Sa isang pitik, nagshrink ang imaginary tunnel,
Nagparang ataol.

Or catacomb,
Strangely absolute ang impression
Ng hilera ng mga pintong nagpuprusisyon:
Individual identification, parang mummy causes,
De-nameplate, de-numero, de-hometown address.
Antiseptic ang atmosphere, streamlined yet/
E filing cabinet.

Filing, hindi naman deaths, ha.
Remembrances, oo. Yung medyo malapot
Dahil, alam mo na I’m quitting the place
After two and a half years.
After two and a half years,
Di man nagkatiyempong mag-ugat, ika nga,
Siyempre’y naging attached, parang morning glory’ng
Mahirap mapaknit sa alambreng trellis.

At pagkabukas ko sa kuwarto
Hubo’t hubad na ang mattresses,
Wala nang kutson sa easy chair.
Mga drawer ng bureau’y nakanganga,
Sabay-sabay nag-ooration,
Nagkahiyaan, nabara.

Of course, tuloy ang radiator sa paggaralgal:
Nasa New York na si Bob and the two Allans,
Yung mga quarterbacks across the hall
Pihadong panay sa Des Moines.
Don and Constance aren’t coming back at all.
Gusto ko mang magpaalam—
to whom?
The drapes? the washbowl? sa double-decker
Na pinaikot-ikot namin ni Kandaswamy
To create space, hopeless, talagang impossible.
Of course, tuloy ang radiator sa paglagutok.
And the above silence,
nakakaiyak kung sumagot.)

Bueno, let’s get it over with.
It’s a long walk to the depot.
Tama na ang sophistication- sophistication.

Sa steep incline, pababa sa highway
Where all things level, sabi nga,
There’s a flurry, ang gentle- gentle.
Pagwhoosh-whoosh ng paa ko,
The snow melts right under:

Nagtutubig, parang asukal,
Humuhulas,
Nagsesentimental.




http://www.tristancafe.com/forum/31785

Another Work of Jose viLLa

 Footnote To Youth

The sun was salmon and hazy in the west. Dodong thought to himself he would tell his father about Teang when he got home, after he had unhitched the carabao from the plow, and let it to its shed and fed it. He was hesitant about saying it, but he wanted his father to know. What he had to say was of serious import as it would mark a climacteric in his life. Dodong finally decided to tell it, at a thought came to him his father might refuse to consider it. His father was silent hard-working farmer who chewed areca nut, which he had learned to do from his mother, Dodong's grandmother.

I will tell it to him. I will tell it to him.

The ground was broken up into many fresh wounds and fragrant with a sweetish earthy smell. Many slender soft worms emerged from the furrows and then burrowed again deeper into the soil. A short colorless worm marched blindly to Dodong's foot and crawled calmly over it. Dodong go tickled and jerked his foot, flinging the worm into the air. Dodong did not bother to look where it fell, but thought of his age, seventeen, and he said to himself he was not young any more.

Dodong unhitched the carabao leisurely and gave it a healthy tap on the hip. The beast turned its head to look at him with dumb faithful eyes. Dodong gave it a slight push and the animal walked alongside him to its shed. He placed bundles of grass before it land the carabao began to eat. Dodong looked at it without interests.

Dodong started homeward, thinking how he would break his news to his father. He wanted to marry, Dodong did. He was seventeen, he had pimples on his face, the down on his upper lip already was dark--these meant he was no longer a boy. He was growing into a man--he was a man. Dodong felt insolent and big at the thought of it although he was by nature low in statue. Thinking himself a man grown, Dodong felt he could do anything.

He walked faster, prodded by the thought of his virility. A small angled stone bled his foot, but he dismissed it cursorily. He lifted his leg and looked at the hurt toe and then went on walking. In the cool sundown he thought wild you dreams of himself and Teang. Teang, his girl. She had a small brown face and small black eyes and straight glossy hair. How desirable she was to him. She made him dream even during the day.

Dodong tensed with desire and looked at the muscles of his arms. Dirty. This field
work was healthy, invigorating but it begrimed you, smudged you terribly. He turned back the way he had come, then he marched obliquely to a creek.

Dodong stripped himself and laid his clothes, a gray undershirt and red kundiman shorts, on the grass. The he went into the water, wet his body over, and rubbed at it vigorously. He was not long in bathing, then he marched homeward again. The bath made him feel cool.

It was dusk when he reached home. The petroleum lamp on the ceiling already was lighted and the low unvarnished square table was set for supper. His parents and he sat down on the floor around the table to eat. They had fried fresh-water fish, rice, bananas, and caked sugar.

Dodong ate fish and rice, but did not partake of the fruit. The bananas were overripe and when one held them they felt more fluid than solid. Dodong broke off a piece of the cakes sugar, dipped it in his glass of water and ate it. He got another piece and wanted some more, but he thought of leaving the remainder for his parents.

Dodong's mother removed the dishes when they were through and went out to the batalan to wash them. She walked with slow careful steps and Dodong wanted to help her carry the dishes out, but he was tired and now felt lazy. He wished as he looked at her that he had a sister who could help his mother in the housework. He pitied her, doing all the housework alone.

His father remained in the room, sucking a diseased tooth. It was paining him again, Dodong knew. Dodong had told him often and again to let the town dentist pull it out, but he was afraid, his father was. He did not tell that to Dodong, but Dodong guessed it. Afterward Dodong himself thought that if he had a decayed tooth he would be afraid to go to the dentist; he would not be any bolder than his father.

Dodong said while his mother was out that he was going to marry Teang. There it was out, what he had to say, and over which he had done so much thinking. He had said it without any effort at all and without self-consciousness. Dodong felt relieved and looked at his father expectantly. A decrescent moon outside shed its feeble light into the window, graying the still black temples of his father. His father looked old now.

"I am going to marry Teang," Dodong said.

His father looked at him silently and stopped sucking the broken tooth. The silence became intense and cruel, and Dodong wished his father would suck that troublous tooth again. Dodong was uncomfortable and then became angry because his father kept looking at him without uttering anything.

"I will marry Teang," Dodong repeated. "I will marry Teang."

His father kept gazing at him in inflexible silence and Dodong fidgeted on his seat.

"I asked her last night to marry me and she said...yes. I want your permission. I... want... it...." There was impatient clamor in his voice, an exacting protest at this coldness, this indifference. Dodong looked at his father sourly. He cracked his knuckles one by one, and the little sounds it made broke dully the night stillness.

"Must you marry, Dodong?"

Dodong resented his father's questions; his father himself had married. Dodong made a quick impassioned easy in his mind about selfishness, but later he got confused.

"You are very young, Dodong."

"I'm... seventeen."

"That's very young to get married at."

"I... I want to marry...Teang's a good girl."

"Tell your mother," his father said.

"You tell her, tatay."

"Dodong, you tell your inay."

"You tell her."

"All right, Dodong."

"You will let me marry Teang?"

"Son, if that is your wish... of course..." There was a strange helpless light in his father's eyes. Dodong did not read it, so absorbed was he in himself.

Dodong was immensely glad he had asserted himself. He lost his resentment for his father. For a while he even felt sorry for him about the diseased tooth. Then he confined his mind to dreaming of Teang and himself. Sweet young dream....

-------------------------------------------

Dodong stood in the sweltering noon heat, sweating profusely, so that his camiseta was damp. He was still as a tree and his thoughts were confused. His mother had told him not to leave the house, but he had left. He had wanted to get out of it without clear reason at all. He was afraid, he felt. Afraid of the house. It had seemed to cage him, to compares his thoughts with severe tyranny. Afraid also of Teang. Teang was giving birth in the house; she gave screams that chilled his blood. He did not want her to scream like that, he seemed to be rebuking him. He began to wonder madly if the process of childbirth was really painful. Some women, when they gave birth, did not cry.

In a few moments he would be a father. "Father, father," he whispered the word with awe, with strangeness. He was young, he realized now, contradicting himself of nine months comfortable... "Your son," people would soon be telling him. "Your son, Dodong."

Dodong felt tired standing. He sat down on a saw-horse with his feet close together. He looked at his callused toes. Suppose he had ten children... What made him think that? What was the matter with him? God!

He heard his mother's voice from the house:

"Come up, Dodong. It is over."

Suddenly he felt terribly embarrassed as he looked at her. Somehow he was ashamed to his mother of his youthful paternity. It made him feel guilty, as if he had taken something no properly his. He dropped his eyes and pretended to dust dirt off his kundiman shorts.

"Dodong," his mother called again. "Dodong."

He turned to look again and this time saw his father beside his mother.

"It is a boy," his father said. He beckoned Dodong to come up.

Dodong felt more embarrassed and did not move. What a moment for him. His parents' eyes seemed to pierce him through and he felt limp.

He wanted to hide from them, to run away.

"Dodong, you come up. You come up," he mother said.

Dodong did not want to come up and stayed in the sun.

"Dodong. Dodong."

"I'll... come up."

Dodong traced tremulous steps on the dry parched yard. He ascended the bamboo steps slowly. His heart pounded mercilessly in him. Within, he avoided his parents eyes. He walked ahead of them so that they should not see his face. He felt guilty and untrue. He felt like crying. His eyes smarted and his chest wanted to burst. He wanted to turn back, to go back to the yard. He wanted somebody to punish him.

His father thrust his hand in his and gripped it gently.

"Son," his father said.

And his mother: "Dodong..."

How kind were their voices. They flowed into him, making him strong.

"Teang?" Dodong said.

"She's sleeping. But you go on..."

His father led him into the small sawali room. Dodong saw Teang, his girl-wife, asleep on the papag with her black hair soft around her face. He did not want her to look that pale.

Dodong wanted to touch her, to push away that stray wisp of hair that touched her lips, but again that feeling of embarrassment came over him and before his parents he did not want to be demonstrative.

The hilot was wrapping the child, Dodong heard it cry. The thin voice pierced him queerly. He could not control the swelling of happiness in him.

“You give him to me. You give him to me," Dodong said.

-------------------------------------------

Blas was not Dodong's only child. Many more children came. For six successive years a new child came along. Dodong did not want any more children, but they came. It seemed the coming of children could not be helped. Dodong got angry with himself sometimes.

Teang did not complain, but the bearing of children told on her. She was shapeless and thin now, even if she was young. There was interminable work to be done. Cooking. Laundering. The house. The children. She cried sometimes, wishing she had not married. She did not tell Dodong this, not wishing him to dislike her. Yet she wished she had not married. Not even Dodong, whom she loved. There has been another suitor, Lucio, older than Dodong by nine years, and that was why she had chosen Dodong. Young Dodong. Seventeen. Lucio had married another after her marriage to Dodong, but he was childless until now. She wondered if she had married Lucio, would she have borne him children. Maybe not, either. That was a better lot. But she loved Dodong...

Dodong whom life had made ugly.

One night, as he lay beside his wife, he rose and went out of the house. He stood in the moonlight, tired and querulous. He wanted to ask questions and somebody to answer him. He w anted to be wise about many things.

One of them was why life did not fulfill all of Youth's dreams. Why it must be so. Why one was forsaken... after Love.

Dodong would not find the answer. Maybe the question was not to be answered. It must be so to make youth Youth. Youth must be dreamfully sweet. Dreamfully sweet. Dodong returned to the house humiliated by himself. He had wanted to know a little wisdom but was denied it.

When Blas was eighteen he came home one night very flustered and happy. It was late at night and Teang and the other children were asleep. Dodong heard Blas's steps, for he could not sleep well of nights. He watched Blas undress in the dark and lie down softly. Blas was restless on his mat and could not sleep. Dodong called him name and asked why he did not sleep. Blas said he could not sleep.

"You better go to sleep. It is late," Dodong said.

Blas raised himself on his elbow and muttered something in a low fluttering voice.

Dodong did not answer and tried to sleep.

"Itay ...," Blas called softly.

Dodong stirred and asked him what it was.

"I am going to marry Tona. She accepted me tonight."

Dodong lay on the red pillow without moving.

"Itay, you think it over."

Dodong lay silent.

"I love Tona and... I want her."

Dodong rose from his mat and told Blas to follow him. They descended to the yard, where everything was still and quiet. The moonlight was cold and white.

"You want to marry Tona," Dodong said. He did not want Blas to marry yet. Blas was very young. The life that would follow marriage would be hard...

"Yes."

"Must you marry?"

Blas's voice stilled with resentment. "I will marry Tona."

Dodong kept silent, hurt.

"You have objections, Itay?" Blas asked acridly.

"Son... n-none..." (But truly, God, I don't want Blas to marry yet... not yet. I don't want Blas to marry yet....)

But he was helpless. He could not do anything. Youth must triumph... now. Love must triumph... now. Afterwards... it will be life.

As long ago Youth and Love did triumph for Dodong... and then Life.

Dodong looked wistfully at his young son in the moonlight. He felt extremely sad and sorry for him.


 http://matikas0805.multiply.com/journal/item/65

THE BOY WHO BECAME A STONE

Tinguian

One day a little boy named Elonen sat out in the yard making a bird snare, and as he worked, a little bird called to him: "Tik-tik-lo-den" (come and catch me).
"I am making a snare for you," said the boy; but the bird continued to call until the snare was finished.
Then Elonen ran and threw the snare over the bird and caught it, and he put it in a jar in his house while he went with the other boys to swim.
While he was away, his grandmother grew hungry, so she ate the bird, and when Elonen returned and found that his bird was gone, he was so sad that he wished he might go away and never come back. He went out into the forest and walked a long distance, until finally he came to a big stone and said: "Stone, open your mouth and eat me." And the stone opened its mouth and swallowed the boy.
When his grandmother missed the boy, she went out and looked everywhere, hoping to find him. Finally she passed near the stone and it cried out, "Here he is." Then the old woman tried to open the stone but she could not, so she called the horses to come and help her. They came and kicked it, but it would not break. Then she called the carabao and they hooked it, but they only broke their horns. She called the chickens, which pecked it, and the thunder, which shook it, but nothing could open it, and she had to go home without the boy.


http://www.sacred-texts.com/asia/pft/pft21.htm