I recently attended a Mid-Autumn Festival party, which, of course, had a theme of “moon”. In a spacious garden with jazz delights in the background, a crowd of around 50 professionals waited patiently for the Moon to appear, since the rainbands of a nearby storm had been covering Beijing’s mid-autumn night skies since Friday (Sep 13). It appeared (yay!) just when a Chinese artist played enchanting tunes on her guqin.
Prior to the party, the organizer asked many of the attendees to bring a poem about the moon. Is there such a poem in Filipino literature? None that I know of.
A colleague wrote on a special paper in our dinner table a short Chinese poem about that night’s sky. I was quite astounded since her poem just had 14 Chinese characters — and it meant deep.
And then she asked me: “Do you have poems about the moon in your country?”
I excused myself for 10 minutes and came up with the poem below. Mind you, I’m not a poet and poetry is beyond my writing skills since I prefer crafting long-form stories. But hey, it’s worth a try!
Liwanag
Sa’yong liwanag,
Damdami’y lumuluwag.
Dahil sa iyong paglitaw,
Bighani’t ligaya’y umaapaw.
Kapag ika’y laging wala,
Ako’y para bang maluluha.
Dahil kapag ika’y wala riyan
Madilim ang aking kalawakan.
Kaya’t sa pagsapit ng gabi
Halina sa‘king tabi.
Dahil sa’yong liwanag,
Ako’y napapanatag.
Here’s a translation:
Radiance
Your brilliance
Makes me feel light.
When you appear
Everything’s all right.
When you’re gone,
I miss you the most.
When you’re gone,
I feel lost.
So when the night comes,
Stay with me, please.
Because your radiance
Leads me to bliss.
Photo: Andy Penafuerte III