Day In the Farm
June 1, 2007
by Luis Dato
I’ve found you fruits of sweetest taste and found you
Bunches of duhat growing by the hill,
I’ve bound your arms and hair with vine and bound you
With rare wild flowers but you are crying still.
I’ve brought you all the forest ferns and brought you
Wrapped in green leaves cicadas singing sweet,
I’ve caught you in my arms an hour and taught you
Love’s secret where the mountain spirits meet.
Your smiles have died and there is no replying
To all endearments and my gifts are vain;
Come with me, love, you are too old for crying,
The church bells ring and I hear drops of rain.
Sarong Aldaw sa Uma
Pinudo ta ka nin mga bunga na pinakahamis asin pinudo ta ka
nin gurong-gurong na duhat na nagtitindog sa kulod,
Pinuyongos ko an saimong kamot asin buhok nin balagon asin sinamnohan
nin pambihirang layas na burak alagad padagos pa an saimong pagsilok-sigok.
Dinara ko saimo an gabos na mga pako sa kadlagan asin inatang ko saimo
nakapatos sa berdeng dahon mga kirit-kirit na mahamis na nagsisiriwit,
Linaom ta ka sa sakong mga kamot sarong oras asin itinukdo
an hilom kan pagkamoot kun sain nagtatagbuan an mga anito kan bukid.
Napara na an saimong mga ngirit asin mayong kasimbagan
sa gabos kong mga pagpapadaba asin an sakong mga dulot daing kamanungdanan:
madya, namomotan, bako ka nang angay nganing mag-agrangay
nagbabagting na an simbahan asin nadadangog ko na an pagtagaktak kan uran.
Dakitaramon ko. (My translation). I got to be introduced to this poem through Mommy Coring (Socorro Federis Tate) who took this up in our English 101 class at the Ateneo de Naga. Later, while visiting Stephen Sergio in Malacanan, I got to met Dato’s son who was one of Sergio’s staff. I learned that Dato served as the mayor of his town, Baao; and for a time taught at the University of Saint Anthony. While I was editing the News Section of the Bikol Standard, publisher and former Minalabac Mayor Gil Basmayor (he lied low for a while from politics to concentrate on newspapering); told me that there were stories in his town that the woman for whom this poem was written is from his municipality. I tried asking around about the woman when I wrote the history of the town for a fiesta souvenir program, where I was able to find a copy of the libretto of the Tumatarok, which Anding Roces wrote about; the crucial role of the town during the Fil-Am war in the region where it became a bloody theater of American expansionism; a 50’s movie star and a national javelin athlete from the town. Sadly, the object of the poet’s affection eluded me, thus her identity remains a mystery.
