Sangka manunudlo si Harold L. Mercurio sa Northwest Samar State University sa Calbayog, Samar. Dyang pandemic siday (binalaybay, tula) pakig-istorya na man sa anang bata nga si Dayaw.
Tukwaw
Harold L. Mercurio
San gutiay pa ak’
diri ak’ nahingangaturog
pagpininsar san akon minangnuan
nga ugang ug siwo
sa amon luyo
labi kun nasiburog
na an tukwaw
dida san paghuyop
san habagat.
Yana nga amay na ak’
mas labi nga di ak’ nahingangaturog
san akon ugang ug siwo
kay waray pa humuyop an habagat
nagtikang na an tukwaw.
An ugang madali bilngon,
pero an siwo maiha padakuon.
Nano na man la an kalipayan
san nagmamanukan kun an imo
minangnuan mahahanaw
sa usa la nga pagpirok san tukwaw?
San ginsusurat ko ini nga siday
lumahos na usa ka milyon
an gintukwaw san Covid
sa bug-os nga kalibutan.
Lahos na liwat singkwenta kayukot
an mga napukan.
Diri ak maaram
kun may katalwasan.
An tukwaw la an naglalarang
kun an ugang, siwo o bisan an higot
iya igtutubyan.
Abril 4, 2020
Tukwaw
Translation by Donna Barandino
When I was a child
I could not sleep
thinking of my poultry’s
hen and chick
in our backyard
during the time when
tukwaw was fast spreading
as the Southwest monsoon
started blowing.
Now that I am a father
the more I could not sleep
thinking of my hen and chick
since tukwaw begins spreading
despite the Southwest monsoon’s silence.
The hen is easy to find,
but the chick is hard to grow.
What consolation awaits
for a poultry grower
if your fowls vanish
in the blink of an eye of tukwaw?
When I was writing this poetry
the tukwaw cases all over the world
caused by Covid-19
past more than a million already.
More than 50,000 as well
had succumbed.
I do not know
if there is a bright tomorrow.
Only tukwaw decides
whether it’s the hen, the chick or even the roster
it would sacrifice.
April 4, 2020
_______
*Tukwaw means avian flu.
