Ya Gurut kan Albasu

Mari fukut ya lubban
nga balay, ngiyem tanakwan 
ta napanaw ya Vulan.
Gavva-gavvat nga nakkopan.

Alle nak pay nassussuk— 
Nakangisit ya futuk, 
awan gallit ya uluk,
ya baggik, dudut, ifuk.

Ju ya bilag kan aggig. 
Nalukag ngin, massirig. 
Ya pallehut, mellahig 
ngin. Alle makalasig

Ya agguyu na. Ngammin 
magguyu pay. Nabalin 
ya azzilam. Awan ngin 
ya dahun, nazza 
lammin.

Mak-cancion nak, paki-diyot kan albasu.

The Zebra Dove at Dawn

Translation of "Yra Gurut kan Albasu"

The lubban that is my home
is not a prison. Yet, it
feels different with the moon 
gone. Darkness, all of a sudden.

It seems that I, too, have been hiding—
My heart, black, I cannot see
the stripes that mark my body, 
my head, my tail, my feathers.

The sun has awakened now. 
There, from the edge, it
peeks. Everything can now be seen.
Its movement seems to infect

The rest. Everything else moves, 
too. The night has ended.
The gray has dispersed, so
the cold has also gone.

I sing to greet the dawn.

Kan Malangan

Maffut dambel, nekkahi ra. 
Marim alakan ya mabaw— 
napakaru kan ittera.

Alakan mu ya karne
senu makasinsim kan manteka 
ya bibig, masapinan ya sinay.

Palyanan mu, payyan mu peba 
ya pinggan, baka mofutan ka.
Aruwan mu ya manteka, ya sarsa,

Mantsan mu ya bibig, ya sinnun,
Se mamwan ya karuba nga nakakan ka. 
Mamutut ka. Alakan mu ya suput.

Marim mappasiran, napakaru mamba.
Ekspektan da ma, mantindyan da 
nga nabisinan tera.

Marim mappasiran. 
Ammu da nga so mataruk 
awan kanan teran.

At the Feast

Translation of "Kan Malangan"

The slow will lose, they said. 
Don’t bother with the rice— 
we have those in heaps.

Partake of the meat
that your lips might be greased,
your guts plied with something solid.

Make it quick, fill your plate 
or you might lose out.
Pour more of the oil, the sauce.

Stain your lips, your clothes,
so the neighbors know that you’ve eaten.
Pig out. Take the plastic bag—

Don’t be shy.
They know that by tomorrow 
we’ll have nothing more to eat.

*

Note: Lubban is a pomelo tree.