*Note this story is in Tagalog
Maselan ang isang kaluluwa.
Ito ay napagod sa itinagal nito sa buhay. May kakayahan itong makaramdam sa iba’t ibang pananaw. Nagsasalita ito ng walang boses, may kakayahan itong makinig sa katahimikan, at abutin ka mula sa kalayuan. Ang katawan ay isang aninag lamang ng ninanais gawin ng isang kaluluwa.
Nagugutom din ito. Malakas ang gana nito nang hindi mo inaasahan. Gutom ito sa katotohanan, naghahanap ito ng kagandahan, kababalaghan, at gustong-gusto niya ng pagmamahal. Tutulakin ka nitong magkaroon ng romansa at rebolusyon, sa pamamagitan ng pait at paghihirap para lamang siya ay makakain. Hindi kailanman makukuntento ang isang kaluluwa, hindi sa mga buhay na naranasan nito.
Hinati ito ng maraming beses sa bawat katawan na binigyang buhay nito. Binabago ng bawat alaala ang kaluluwa hanggang maabot nito ang walang hanggang posibilidad. Kaya bang buhayin ang isang kaluluwa sa pamamagitan ng isang kislap? Makakapagmuni-muni ba ito tungkol sa taglay mong kagandahan? Mawawala ba ang iyong kaluluwa sa problema ng daigdig? Malaya bang makakapaglakad ang iyong kaluluwa sa mundo? Kailangan bang pagalingin ang iyong kaluluwa? Taglay ba ng iyong kaluluwa ang katotohanan tungkol sa iyong pagkatao?
Pinapadugo ito ng buhay. Pinapahirapan ng buhay ang isang kaluluwa, tinatakpan ito ng mga paghihirap at sakit. Hindi kailanman ginawa ang kaluluwa para sa daigdig na ito, makukuha lamang nito ang kapayapaan sa kalangitan.
Magtatapos ang buhay ng hindi inaasahan at iyon lamang ang panahon kung kailan mapapanatag ang isang kaluluwa. Makakapagpahinga ito sa kaniyang sisidlan, katulad ng iba niyang kasama, at tunay niyang malalaman ang kalayaan mula sa sakit na pinagdaanan niya sa buhay. Mula sa presensya ng kaniyang tagabantay, makakahinga na ito ng maluwag. Sa ilalim ng isanlibong matang nagmamasid, makakalimutan nito ang sakit, ang pahihirap, at kagutuman.
Magiging ligtas ang kaluluwa.
Magpakailanman.
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English Version
The soul is a very fragile thing.
Throughout life it is shaken. It can sense the world through a million different lenses. It speaks without voice, it can hear through the deepest silence, it can touch from mountains away. The body is but a pale reflection of what the soul can achieve.
A soul is a hungry creature. It craves more than it could ever hope to get. It quests for truth, it searches for beauty, it seeks out wonder, it longs for love. It forces you to feed its hunger through romance and revolution, through bitterness and burdens. The soul can never be satisfied, not in any life that is lived.
It breaks into a billion pieces in a trillion ways each lifetime. Every moment shifts the soul into a spectrum of possibilities. Will your soul be set off with a spark? Will it reflect the beauty you possess? Will you lose your soul to the world’s problems? Will you bare your naked soul to the world? Will your soul need to be healed? Will your soul seek its missing piece? Will your soul be the truth of who you are?
Life bleeds the soul dry. Life only brings suffering to the soul, covering it in layers upon layers of torment and pain. The soul was never made for the earth, it can only know true peace in the heavens.
Life will end as it inevitably does and it is only then that the soul can finally be secure. It will rest in its jar, among countless others like it and it will know freedom from the pain it so desperately ran from in life. In the shadow of its guardian the soul can breathe like it never could. Under the watchful gaze of a thousand eyes, it can forget the pain and the burden and the hunger.
The soul will be safe.
Forever.
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*Tagalog is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by a quarter of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by the majority. Its standardized form, officially named Filipino, is the national language of the Philippines, and is one of two official languages alongside English.
Walo guards a section of heaven where the souls of all humans are located. The souls are kept in tightly covered jars
Written by Karl Gaverza
Translation by Emman Bernardino
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Translation Copyright © Emman Bernardino
Story inspired by “Origin of This World (Maranao)” in Philippine Folk Literature: The Myths. Eugenio. 2001.
Walo Illustration by Leandro Geniston from Aklat ng mga Anito
FB: That Guy With A Pen
Colors by Alexa Garde
Website: Lexa.us