In Memoriam: For the men and women we lost on 9/11
“Brittany Clark, an 11-year-old from Crown Heights, Brooklyn, found out at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, through a call from the mayor’s office, that she had been selected to read a poem in memory of her father, Benjamin, at the ceremony at ground zero yesterday.
(original photo shot by Myra Lambino, New York, Central Park, two weeks ago)
“Brittany’s mother, La-Shawn, said that she had submitted the anonymous poem, which has been widely circulated for years, after she heard that organizers were specifically looking for a child to speak.
xxx
“Marianne Keane’s tribute to her stepfather, Franco Lalama, a structural engineer for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, found its way to ceremony organizers through the family of Mr. Lalama’s boss, Neil D. Levin, the Port Authority’s executive director, who also died in the attack. Mr. Levin’s widow, Christine Ann Ferer, asked for submissions from the Port Authority families and forwarded them to City Hall.
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“Following is a transcript of remarks that Brittany Clark, 11, made yesterday in honor of her father, as recorded by The Associated Press.
“This poem makes me feel like my daddy is speaking to me:
I give you this one thought to keep,
I am with you still, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glint on the snow.
I am as sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in morning hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight,
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not think of me as gone,
I am with you still in each new dawn.
“Following is a transcript of the remarks that Marianne Keane, 17, made yesterday in honor of her stepfather, as recorded by The Associated Press.
” “I don’t remember the last time that I told him that I loved him. I would give anything to go back to the morning of Sept. 11 and tell him how much I appreciate everything he’s done for me. But I think that he knows that now. In my eyes he died a hero. And how much more could you ask for?
” “There’s a quote that pretty much speaks for itself: ”You never lose anything, not really. Things, people, they go away sooner or later. You can’t hold them any more than you can hold the moonlight. But if they touched you, if they’re inside of you, then they’re still yours.”
” “Franc, as I look back on these days, I realize how much I’ll truly miss you and how much I truly loved you. You were the best father I could ever ask for. I miss you and I hope you didn’t hurt too much. Love, Marianne.” “
-an article by Kirk Johnson, “Vigilance and Memory: Offering Messages of Love to the Parents They Lost” published in the New York Times Sept. 12, 2002
Today is a day of heroes: Happy National Heroes Day (Aug. 27, 2012)!
This is dedicated
to those who never hesitated
to put their constituents’ interests
always ahead of theirs
xxx xxx xxx
(geez, why am i rhyming today…? stop!… apologies.)
xxx xxx xxx
Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa ni Andres Bonifacio (Love for the Motherland by Andres Bonifacio). Translation series – this is a continuation of the translation series in this blog. i’ve translated four out of the six popularized stanzas of the national hero’s poem; this is the fifth; five out of six. He has a dozen stanzas. i started translating it when Ka Bel died (KMU President and partylist representative Crispin Beltran, in 2008), two stanzas only (not easy to translate, sowee). Then, translated another stanza in last year’s Andres Bonifacio day post. That’s five stanzas in four years — bilis-bilisan mo naman ano! ( pick up the pace, gosh!) Be patient — i translate only on national heroes day or when we lose a great Filipino and human being.
xxx
Translation of the second stanza of “Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa” by blog admin, with apologies…
But first, a literal, word-for-word translation! Here it is:
“Walang mahalagang hindi inihandog” — “walang mahalaga” is: nothing important; “hindi inihandog” is not offered. This line literally translates into: There is nothing important that is not offered. “Ng may pusong wagas sa bayang nagkupkop“— “ng may pusong wagas” translates literally into: of a pure heart or of someone with a pure heart; “sa bayang nagkupkop” is: to the country who adopted you”; the line literally translates into: of a pure heart to the country who adopted you. “Dugo, yaman, dunong, katiisa’t pagod” quite literally translates into: Blood, wealth, talent, sacrifice and tiredness (or hardship). “Buhay ma’y abuting magkalagot-lagot” – “Buhay ma’y abutin” or “buhay man ay abutin” literally translates into: “Even if life is reached by”; while“magkalagot-lagot” is to be snapped off, or broken in a series, or repeatedly; while “malagutan ng hininga”or to be snapped off of one’s breath, means to die. So, the literally translation of the entire stanza is:
There is nothing important that is not offered. Of a pure heart to the country who adopted you. Blood, wealth, talent, sacrifice, and tiredness (or hardship). Even if life is reached and snapped off over and over.
Blog admin’s translation below (tried my very best, sorry in advance; i’m not a professional translator or linguist) — second stanza, with apologies:
“Walang mahalagang hindi inihandog
“Ng may pusong wagas sa bayang nagkupkop.
“Dugo, yaman, dunong, katiisa’t pagod:
“Buhay ma’y abuting magkalagot-lagot….”
no sacrifice is too small or too important
no heart too pure for the motherland
every ounce of blood, wealth, toil and sweat
every end will be met though life is tested by threat.
(parenthetical description written early morning: last photo below: variation of the warrior pose. To be continued, i’ll be back at midday with more illustration! hafta run then run errands, then be back)
xxx
As promised – back from a run, and running errands.
Fortunately, this glorious morning of heroes day, with the sun beating fiercely, the U.P. Rayadillo in full regalia with an energetic marching band, the U.P ROTC, and the Andres Bonifacio choir (the sopranos were pretty good, runners could hear the high notes soaring from the Bonifacio monument, across the street, up to the Sunken Garden — what more could you ask for? not bad, not bad at all) rendered full honor rites to Andres Bonifacio…See photo above. (blog admin is saved from posting the rest of her warrior photos.)
And here’s a continuation of the blog translation series, (with apologies, blog admin presumptuous enough to translate, if only for the worldwide audience.)
You guessed it – Andres Bonifacio’s “Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa” (Love for the Motherland). Translating it is one of those forms of sacrilege which it is hoped people would forgive me for. How does one translate “sa abang-abang mawalay sa bayan?”… “Aba”, the adjective, means humble, or poor in the sense of to be pitied; “abang-aba” is very humble. “Mawalaysa bayan” literally means to be separated from the country. You cannot translate it literally. It will look like: For the very humble separated from the country. That is not the sense of it, right? (that’s why i said — presumptuous; but … have not yet been lynched so far for this translation series).
Once, just to test the language aptitude of students (my classes are bi-lingual; i wanted to test it, but i never tried this exercise again, blog admin was in stitches, stomach hurt from laughing ), i asked students to translate three lines from Andres Bonifacio’s poem.
For “sakbibi ng lumbay” (roughly, it means, enveloped by sadness), a student wrote:
“basket of sorrow”…
and i said “oh… that’s an unusual metaphor.”
Then i thought very hard.
Looked far away. Why basket? Then i said “Sakbibi… basket…? why basket”
And everybody laughed.
Apparently, the rest of the class caught on faster. They chorused “Ma’am tampipi!! hindi sakbibi!” (Ma’am, she meant tampipi!! for sakbibi!) Here’s what a tampipi looks like…(photo from tampipiatbp.multiply.com):
So — that’s why she answered, basket. Basket of sorrow.
I’m just glad i did not get an answer: Oyster. Oyster is kabibi. Sounds like sakbibi. Oyster of sorrow. Kabibi – Sakbibi. Kabibi ng lumbay.
xxx
Continuation of the translation series. Lines from Andres Bonifacio’s Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa, with apologies:
Sa abang- abang mawalay sa bayan!
Gunita ma’y laging sakbibi ng lumbay,
Walang alaalang inaasa-asam
Kundi ang makita’y lupang tinubuan.
(blog admin’s translation, with apologies:
For those suffering exile from our land
Every memory filled with sadness and love
Every remembrance stirred by longing
To see the beloved country of yearning)
Aling pag-ibig pa ang hihigit kaya
Sa pagkadalisay at pagkadakila
Gaya ng pag-ibig sa tinubuang lupa
Aling pag-ibig pa? Wala na nga wala
(blog admin’s translation, with apologies:
Is there any greater love
Any purer love… any truer love
Than love for the motherland?
Is there any other love?
Truly no other, truly unsurpassed.)
Here’s an earlier attempt to translate lines from Andres Bonifacio: (Blog post 21 May 2008):
Blog post: “Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa”
(“Love for the Motherland”) by Andres Bonifacio, excerpted (rough translation for non-Filipinos by blog admin)
“Kayong nalagasan ng bunga’t bulaklak
Kahoy niyaring buhay na nilanta’t sukat
Ng bala-balaki’t makapal na hirap
Muling manariwa’t sa baya’y lumiyag
(Those of you with felled flowers and blossom
Trees that gave life but withered in a sudden
Sapped by multiple hardship, persecution, suffering
Take heart, now they bloom in the motherland’s bosom)
“Ipakahandog-handog ang buong pag-ibig
Hanggang sa may dugo’y ubusing itigis
Kung sa pagtatanggol buhay ang kapalit
Ito’y kapalaran at tunay na langit
(Fully offering all of our love
Even if the cost is the last ounce of our blood
Should this struggle exact, the price of our life)
