Monday, August 11, 2008

Salin: HUNYO ni Shi Tao

Today's Lifestyle Arts & Books section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer (August 11, 2008) has an article, "Writers worldwide hold own Olympics 'relay' for freedom," about a "poem relay" on behalf of the imprisoned Chinese poet Shi Tao. "The relay seeks to produce translations of Shi's poem 'June,'" according to the unbylined Inquirer article.

June 4, 1989, was the date of the Tiananmen massacre. Shi Tao is serving 10 years in prison for supposedly "revealing state secrets abroad"--specifically, because he circulated an email that exposed the the Chinese propaganda department's instructions to the Chinese media on how to cover the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen incident.

I don't know if there's already an existing Tagalog translation of the poem. I haven't surfed the Internet yet. For all it's worth, here's my translation, based on the English translation published by the Inquirer:


HUNYO
ni Shi Tao

Ang buong buhay ko
Ay hindi kailanman lalagpas sa Hunyo.
Hunyo nang mamatay ang aking puso,
Hunyo nang mamatay ang aking poesiya,
Hunyo nang mamatay ang aking iniibig
Nang dumanak sa lupa ang dugo ng pag-ibig.

Hunyo, sinusunog at tinutuklap ng araw ang aking balat,
Inilalantad ang tunay na kalikasan ng aking sugat.
Hunyo, lumalangoy sa dagat na pinapula ng dugo
Ang mga isdang naghahanap ng lugar na matutulugan.
Hunyo, umiikot ang mundo, natatahimik ang mga ilog,
Natatambak ang mga liham na hindi maipadala sa mga patay na.


Salin sa Pilipino ni Jose F. Lacaba
Batay sa saling Ingles ni Chip Rolley


(Ang nagsalin sa Pilipino ay naging bilanggong pulitikal sa Kampo Crame nang halos dalawang taon, 1974-76, noong panahon ng batas militar.)

1 comment:

Ka Pete said...
This comment has been removed by the author.