*Note this story is in Hiligaynon

Nakita ko siya sang kagab-ihon Kung diin wala ang bulan

Ang tinuga nga naga luha sang kalayo

Ging kadtuan ko siya kag namangkot

Luha bala ina sang kasubo?

Ukon kaakig?

Wala siya nagsabat

Mas nag damo ang  ilig sang luha nga kalayo sa iya mata

Amo gani nanumdom man ako

Abi bala niya nahadlok ako?

Sang pula kag naga sidlak nga balanaw

Sang madulom nga kagab-ihon

Indi niya ako pag hatagan sang sabat

Gusto lang niya ako pahalinon

Pero gusto gid ya mahibal-an

Kadamo klase sang kasubo

Kadamo klase sang kaakig

Kag siguro, kinalain-lain man nga klase sang kasadya

Ang madulom nga mata niya, nagatulok saakon

Mga mata nga naga tabiris sang kalayo sa duta

Nang halayaon siya sang makapila

Asta nga nag abot ang makasililaw nga kasanag sang tuip.

Madasig siya nga nadula

May ara lang danaw sang pula nga dagta

Ebidensya sang iya paghalin

Bwas magabalik ako

Kag sa masunod pa nga mga gab-i

Para mamangkot sa nagahibi nga tinuga

Kung ano ang buot silingon sang iya mga luha

-=——————————————–=-

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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*The Hiligaynon language, also colloquially referred often by most of its speakers simply as Ilonggo, is an Austronesian regional language spoken in the Philippines by about 9.1 million people, mainly in Western Visayas and SOCCSKSARGEN, most of whom belong to the Visayan ethnic group, mainly the Hiligaynons. It is the second-most widely spoken language and a member of the so-named Visayan language family and is more distantly related to other Philippine languages.

Written by Karl Gaverza
Hiligaynon translation by Eloiza Gaduyon
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Translation Copyright © Eloiza Gaduyon

Inongok Illustration by Joshua Hamangal
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