Tinig ng Darating/ The Voice of the Future*

Teo S. Baylen

"Itak sa Puso ng Mang Juan" (1978) painting by Antipas “Biboy” Delotavo

Ang guniguni mo'y paglakbayin doon
... madugong landas ng ating dantaon,
Ang masasalubong ay isang panahon
na pumaparitong dala'y ilang tanong

-Ito ba ang tirahang aking aangkinin
... tira-tirahan ng apoy at talim?
Ito ba ang manang aking bubungkalin
... na sambuntong abo at nagngangang libing?

-Ito ba ang mundong hinila kung saan
ng Gulong ng inyong hidwang kanluran?
Ito ba ang bunga ng Sining mo't Agham?
Ito ba ang manang ating kailangan?

-Iyan ba ang parang at iyon ang bundok?
na aking daratnang uling na at tuod?
Ito ba ang wakas na layon ng Diyos
...nang ang unang tao'y abutan ng dulos?

Iyan ba ang bukid na walang naimbak,
kundi mga bungo ng mga kaanak?
...binaog ng inyong punlong makamandag
at wala ni damo na diya'y mag-uugat?

-Kahubdan at gutom, isipang salanta!
Bigong pananalig... at Pag-asang giba!
Ito ba ang aking manang mapapala...
na labi ng inyong taniman at sumpa?

Oh Sangkatauhan ng Dantaong ito!
...na dapat sisihin ng mga inapo;
Ano sa darating ang isasagot mo...
sa sumbat ng lahing susunod sa iyo?

Oh! Cast thy minds for yonder's there to travel
... to the bloody path of today's century.
There's shall ye come across a modern age
with thousands question to cry!

-Is this the land that my hands shall grasp
whose soil was thorns and river was blood?
Is this the inheritance that I shall plough
whose land of dusts and doom of graveyards?

-Is this the world that was played and rolled
by the Wheel of your Western promises?
Is this the fruits of thy Arts and Science?
Is this the inheritance to us that we need?

-Is that a lovely meadow and there's the mountains
...whose nature of ashes and livings of worms?
Is this the Fate of the Above's creations,
whose man shall soon be creations of doom and death?

-Is that a homestead that reserves nothing
... but skulls and cadavers of my fellowmen?
...Hath left unfertile by your venomous 'seeds'
that even a grass shall sprout no more!

-Nakedness and hunger, Minds depraved and corrupted,
Frustrated belief, Diminishing hopes...
Is this all that I shall inherit...
whose fruits of all your curse and wickedness?!

Oh! To thee, People of this century
who deserved the blames of the Future's voice;
What can be those words flowing from thy tongue
... to the questions of the mankind of tommorow's age?

*note: This Original Filipino Poem was Edited and Translated in English by
Jm Benavidez Estoque

Copyright © 2009 by J. Estoque
All Rights Reserved