LETTER

Letter

Translation by Leoncio P. Deriada

Mother,

I dropped your letter when the postman

handed it

it was very heavy even if it was only a

page

the charcoal-black ink was too

concentrated

maybe it seeped through the paper

and stained your kitchen table

but at the bottom of the paper

the other words changed color

like islands when beheld

I looked which part was Antique

Mother, I could not read your letter

anymore

many more islands appeared

the page was filled

whatever you said about Father

and my younger brothers and sisters

may God have pity on them

Mother, don’t write to me anymore

let us not overwork the postman

some more

save on ink

so that your kitchen table will not stain

and the islands

I don’t want to see them again.

lovingly,

your child.

WORKS CITED

Deriada, Leoncio P., ed. Patubas An Anthology of West Visayan Poetry: 1986-1994. Manila: The National 

Commission for Culture and the Arts, 1995.