MARIANG MAKILING

MARIANG MAKILING

Nasa gubat muli ang ating diwata.
Managhoy man tayo'y hindi siya lalabas.
Ang ibig niya'y isang taksil na binata.

Pagsapit ng dilim ang mga bintana
ay dapat isara; dapat nang mag-ingat:
nasa gubat muli ang ating diwata.

Walang masabi ang mga manghuhula,
kahit sino'y walang magawa, sapagkat
ang ibig niya'y isang taksil na binata.

Matapos ang unos, sino ang gagala
upang aluin ang mga sawimpalad?
Nasa gubat muli ang ating diwata

at ngayon ay hindi na nababahala
kung ang mangangaso'y maligaw ng landas.
Ang ibig niya'y isang taksil na binata.

Laganap sa buong bayan ang balitang
tulala siyang lagi't tuhod ang kayakap.
Nasa gubat muli ang ating diwata
pagkat ang ibig ay taksil na binata. -

--JOSE F. LACABA

Mula sa MGA KAGILA-GILALAS NA PAKIKIPAGSAPALARAN: MGA TULANG NAHALUNGKAT SA BUKBUKING BAUL (Kabbala, 1979; second edition: Office of Research and Publications, Ateneo de Manila, 1996). Muling nalathala sa KUNG BAGA SA BIGAS: MGA PILING TULA (University of the Philippines Press, 2002; second printing, 2005).

Ang villanelle na ito ay kabilang sa mga tulang sinulat ko sa pagitan ng 1965 at 1969. Naalala ko ito nang mapabalitang ang artista at mang-aawit na si Karylle ay nag-pose bilang Mariang Makiling para sa mga pintor, iskultor, at potograpo. Ang event na iyon--na inisponsor ng Maria Makiling Foundation ng University of the Philippines--ay nagsilbing paglulunsad ng kampanya na pangalagaan at iligtas ang Mount Makiling sa Laguna.

Maria Makiling ang pangalan ng foundation, at madalas ding gamitin ang pangalang iyan ng iba, pero ang nakagisnan kong pangalan ng diwata ay Mariang Makiling.

Maria Makiling
Drawing by Rev Cruz (Brush pen on bond paper)
Artwork from:

http://revcruz.blogspot.com/2007/08/legilimens-peek-inside-my-moleskine.html

Reprinted with the artist’s permission

Narito naman ang “Legend,” ang sarili kong salin Ingles ng “Mariang Makiling.” Isa ito sa ilang salin sa Ingles ng sarili kong mga tula, na ginawa ko noong 1979 sa Iowa University, Iowa, U.S.A. Napunta ako sa Iowa nang mapasama ako sa International Writing Program, sa ilalim ng isang grant na ipinagkaloob ng U.S. International Visitors Program.

Ang salin sa ibaba, at ang kasunod na editorial note, ay nasa 1996 edition ng libro kong Mga Kagila-gilalas na Pakikipagsapalaran.

LEGEND

Our nymph is back in her forest lair.
However much we wail, she won't come out.
All she wants is a faithless lover.

When darkness falls, all our windows
must be shut; we must now take care:
our nymph is back in her forest lair.

Nothing is known by the fortune tellers,
nothing can be done by anyone, because
all she wants is a faithless lover.

After a storm, who will walk around
to comfort all the unfortunate?
Our nymph is back in her forest lair

and now she doesn't care a whit
if a hunter loses his way.
All she wants is a faithless lover.

The news is all over town that she's
always blank-eyed and hugging her knees.
Our nymph is back in her forest lair
because she wants a faithless lover.


LEGEND. This is based on one of the best-known Philippine legends, about a wood nymph, Maria of Mount Makiling, who falls in love with a mortal. In this particular version of the legend, she's jilted by the mortal; in another version, she loses him to Spanish colonial conscription. Mount Makiling, to this day, is the center of native messianic cults, some of which revere heroes of the 1896 Philippine revolution as saints, and have a trinity composed of God the Father, God the Mother, and God the Son. Slightly different versions of this translation were previously published in The Spirit that Moves Us (Volume 6, Number 1, 1981, Iowa) and Tenggara: Journal of Southeast Asian Literature (No. 12, 1981, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).




In his book Waiting for Mariang Makiling: Essays in Philippine Cultural History (Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2002), Resil B. Mojares reprints this poem and the translation, and quotes me in a footnote:

“On the writing of this poem, the author says: ‘I wrote the poem after dropping out of college but before the First Quarter Storm [the wave of antigovernment protest actions in 1970]. I think I had already written it before I joined Free Press, which narrows the writing period to between January and September of 1965.’ He calls the poem ‘a skirmish in my continuing engagement with folk and popular culture’ (personal communication, Jose F. Lacaba, 31 October 2001).”

Click the link below for Resil’s reading of the “Mariang Makiling” poem:

http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=An-ggOOAqAUC&dq=resil+mojares+mariang+makiling&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=i24cUV7CEz&sig=OoyG_M683F6Fe3nzv314xwCUkHw&hl=en&ei=lY_ySfedG5KUkAXr9-jaCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1 - PPA13,M1