Poem For Buwan ng Wika

Isang karangalan ang mabigyan ng pagkakataon na sumulat ng tula tungkol sa ating sariling wika para gamiting pyesa sa patimpalak ng pagsasaling wika ng tulang Ingles sa Filipino at sa iba’t ibang dialekto sa Pilipinas. Ako ay nagpapasalamat kay Ginoong Makata at Ginoong Viray sa pagkakataong ito. Isang kasiyahang ng makita ang pagsasalin ng ating mga estudyante ng tumutugma sa nais kong ipabatid. Mahalin natin ang sariling atin para sa ating pagkaka-kilanlan. Mas maige ang madaming alam na lengwahe kesa sa iisa pero mas maige kung alam bigkasin ng iyong bibig ang lengwahe ng dugong pumipintig at bumubuo sayong pagkatao, Afterall, ikaw ay Pilipino, Filipino ang wika mo!



My Language, My Identity
by Arlene B. Quicho
I was told we had a rich culture, a native language of our own.
By the sea, we traded words; we were strong in our connection.
Until the imperial sun rose over, above the dimness of our morn.
Displacing unique local adoption, importing sundry combination.
In days gone by, it broke apart, the archipelago we held dear.
The peculiar slang in a different beat seemed bleary to my ear.
Going afar to distant regions is to be familiar with the vernacular.
The mother tongue by its acquisition unites the culture in particular.
Came one awakening day, the language of the world was born.
Side by side with my natal tongue, in their combination, I was scorned.
In school and in the workplace, I have to keep abreast
Of the various languages in a multitude of dialectical nest.
In multiplicity of language ideologies that make up a nation,
what are the keys to unlock the door to the best direction?
Does it lie in the words put together by a bond?
Binding our spirit and history, our culture and society.
How do we answer the question of this time,
if at our fluency (altered by modernity) we laugh.
In both our own language and the language of the world,
we are never enough.
Speaking the language of colonial mentality
will never change the fact about your ethnicity.
If only very easily we could change our history
we would not have defied our identity.
What do we do with the mess of the past
intertwined with the future that rests upon us?
Where do we stand in our relation?
With our language appreciation, we can be a proud nation.

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