*Note this story is in Kapampangan
Metung benging alang bulan anyang ikit ke
Itang lalaking tinangis api
Lepitan ke saka ke kitnangan bakit
Lua la bang lungkut den?
O lua lang mua mu?
E ya mekibat
Kontorung mengutang ku
Mas menulu ing api kareng mata na
Karin ku mipaisip
Aisip na kaya nung mengatakutan ko?
Miglawa nang malutu
Dinalumdum ne ing langit
Oneng ali ya pa din mekibat
Bagkus, tinapus naku pa palawut
Oneng kailangan kung abalu
Na ating miyayaliwang lungkut
Na ating miyayaliwang mua
Ampong sigurung miyayaliwang saya
Linawe naku kareng matuling nang mata
A manuling api king gabun
Menangis yang pilang alang anggang panaun
Anggang minaslag ya ing sulu king panakit ku king malawut
King metung iglap, mewala ne
Miglakwan yang malutung lawa
Katunayan na linabas ya
Pangabukas milbalik ku
Ampo keng benging kayari na ning bukas bengi
Bangkanita akutnan ke itang lalaki
Nung bakit ya manangis
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English Version
It was a moonless night when I saw him
The man who cried fire
I went up to him and asked why
Were they tears of sadness?
Or anger?
He did not reply
The more I asked
The more fire fell from his eyes
And I began to wonder
Does he think I am frightened?
By the pool of glittering red
By the darkness of the night sky
He would not give me an answer
And sought to push me away
But I needed to know
There were different kinds of sadness
Different kinds of anger
And maybe even different kinds of joy
He looked at me with his jet black eyes
Pouring flames onto the ground
He wept for several eternities
Until the light broke from the horizon
And in an instant he was gone
With only a puddle of red
As evidence of his passing
Tomorrow I will return
And the night after that
To ask the crying man
What is behind his tears
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* Kapampangan, Pampango, or the Pampangan language is a major Philippine language. It is primarily spoken in the province of Pampanga, southern Tarlac, and northeastern Bataan. Kapampangan is also spoken in some municipalities of Bulacan and Nueva Ecija, by various Aeta groups of Central Luzon, and in scattered communities within the SOCCSKSARGEN region in Mindanao. The language is known honorifically as Amánung Sísuan (“breastfed, or nurtured, language”)
Written by Karl Gaverza
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Translation Copyright © Keith Nicson Fajardo
Inongok Illustration by Joshua Hamangal
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