I'll be presenting on my forthcoming novel, DOVELION, for the first time this coming Sunday as part of the conversation/performance on "INDIGENOUS FUTURES" with Leny Strobel, Lizae Reyes, and Mila Anguluan. This is part of of the 2020 virtual conference by The Society of Indigenous and Ancestral Wisdom and Healing on "Dancing With Uncertainty." You are invited and click HERE for more information and registration.
CHANTED POEM: COMING HOME (YA PALLABBET)
09.18.09 (ENGLISH VERSION)
Intan intan... labbet tan intan
Intan intan... labbet tan intan
Halika na uwi na... halika na uwi na...
Halika na uwi na... halika na uwi na...
Why do you do this, Lola? As a child I’d wonder
Why grandmother chanted to call me, even while beside her
After visiting strange places and it was time to go home Why do you do this, I would repeat
And slowly, she’d look at me, and say gently
Whispering a secret known only to both of us
So that you won’t get lost, my child
So that you won’t go wandering too far
Too far that you’d never return again.
And then she’d chant and do it all over
Intan intan... labbet tan intan...
Intan intan.... labbet tan intan
Imploring with her voice, singing softly with the wind, distinctly
Calling... for my fragmented selves in fragmented places
Come home... come home... time to come home...
Come to this body again... come to this mind...
Come to this heart... come back into this inner space
Come... all you wandering selves together
Come home... and be whole again.
And she’d take hold of my hand
Wrapping my tiny hand, enclosing it in hers
In her strong hand, her nurturing hand and
All at once I’d feel like it was the safest place to be
Despite the creeping darkness, despite the chilling night.
Other nights have come: nights of doom, nights of sorrow.
Many other places: places of torment, places of pain
Many lands traversed, many more to be traveled
Lands that are jagged, cruel, leering, eerie
Oceans that are frothing, seething, smearing
Places where our many selves go
Wandering into...peering into... swallowed into.
Lola, like other ancestors, was babaylan
She whose voice kept calling with the wind, dispelling despair
She whose pungent herbs curling in burning coals would flow into dreams
And deep sleep where soft smoke soothed the unseen pain
Healed the open wounds, brought together flesh and soul torn apart
So that healed, daughters, granddaughters and great granddaughters
Sons and grandsons, sondaughters and daughtersons
Heir to her power of peace, silence, resilience, song, dance, touch
Animate once more the babaylan legacy of dispelling darkness
Healing pain, praying peace, chanting to all our little selves
Intan intan... labbet tan intan... intan intan... labbet tan intan Come home... come home... time to come back home... Come to this body again... come to this mind...
Come to this heart... come back into this inner space Come... all you wandering selves together
Come home... and be whole again.
*
ANG PAGBABALIK (YA PALLABBET)
Filipino Version
Intan intan... labbet tan intan
Intan intan... labbet tan intan
Halika na uwi na... halika na uwi na...
Halika na uwi na... halika na uwi na...
Kaam ta kunukunnay ya kwammu?
Bakit nyo po ginagawa ito, Lola?
Sa paslit na isip hinanap ko
Pang unawa mula sa mata niyang
Nakatunghay sa kay layong dako
Lugar ng di malirip na panaginip.
Dahan dahan, ako’y kanyang mamasdan
Sulyap na banayad, paru paro’y dumapo
Para hindi ka mawalay, mahal na Apo
Para hindi ka humayo at lumayo nang husto
Para ika’y makabalik nang ganap at buo
Walang pagtugis sa mapanlinlang na anino
At muli’y kanyang aawitin ang dalangin
Panalangin ng pagsuyo sa hangin
Intan intan... labbet tan intan
Intan intan... labbet tan intan
Halika na uwi na... halika na uwi na...
Halika na uwi na... halika na uwi na...
Tawag niya ay paghibik sa sariling
kung saan saang sulok tumalsik
Samut sari, sari saring mga sarili
Sariling hInagupit at hinaplit
Sa sinilangan at dinayong bayan
Ng Agilang may kukong mandaragit!
Sinong mag aakalang sa lunsod man
O kagubatan, walang mapuntahan
ang sariling kinutya, pinaglaruan
Ng mga imbi, ng mga gahaman
Impit ang paghiyaw sa kadiliman
Nasaan ang liwanag, nasaan ang kalooban?
Si Lola at iba pang mga lola, silang Babaylan
Tagapamagitan, tagahilom, tagapagdiwang
Tagatawag sa mga sariling nangangalay
Mga sariling nawawalay, bumabalik sa halik
Ng babaylang awit, mapayapang dasal, mahinahong huni
Muli, buo ang kalooban, ganap ang kalinawagan!
Muli, at muli, buuin ang sarili, awitin dasal ng babaylan
Intan intan... labbet tan intan
Intan intan... labbet tan intan
Halika na uwi na... halika na uwi na...
At narito ka na nga, sa sariling iyong tahanan
Kapwa ng kaganapan, kapwa ng kabuuan!
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