It seems too heavy to think
That all things I know will turn into 
stone eventually. Once I knew a 
man who sang to my ears every 
night. Bird songs. War songs. 
Ocean songs. To think about 
his  two brown eyes
fading, his long black hair
melting before me…
I’m thankful at least for
poems like this. Even if I
fall, it won’t be
in silence.

Ang akong pula nga 
sanina misyagit taliwala sa 
lanog mo’ng 
pahiyum…

Ang imong mga tiil daw
mitudlo sa langit ug
mikumpas duyog sa
​akong lingin nga
bat ang. Mitamud sa
tyempo. Hinay sa una, hangtud
nga mipaspas. Hinay,
paspas ug lagiting
pa. Gidayong
sa musika, daw
toro ug 
torero sa ruyda.

Kahilum.

Ang hangin nagdala ug
mga alibangbang nga
mipalibut sa akong
uluhan. Matahum ​ug tam-is sama
niining mga balak nga
miagas diha sa imong
baba. Usa ka
hagdanan ang 
mitunga padulong sa
kalingatan. Sa tumoy
niini, taliwala sa mga
bituun ug kangitngit sa 
kagabhiun, mibawug ang 
matig-a ko'ng
bungbong.

There we were on
one side of the island
amid sand, sun and 
the soft whispering of 
the Pacific wind, a garden wildly 
growing. Our hands were
clasped. The sky danced above
us while we stood barefoot, eyes 
only for each other. South 
Pole and North Pole yet 
utterly inseparable.
This was 
us, only at 
another 
time.

Night opens 
again. I hear a familiar 
laugh from another 
time--from a place that 
is now far away..
I hear a soft murmur in my 
ear, and then a sigh, a ripping 
of the heart, a faint 
stirring.

Outside, the moon glows,
luring me again, pulling me down 
like a boat to a 
whirpool. On nights 
before, I’d have 
vanished into a 
blackhole of nostalgia. to 
put a face and a 
name into a 
voice.
but not now.

​
Not anymore now.

How far does this forest go?
I ask you, my beloved who 
walks with me in this narrow path 
down the forest floor 
amid fallen trees in stormy
days and burnt grass
in the summer, amid glowing
skies and orange
clouds… night wind, 
dark flowers and
​surprises..

How far?

El Anisha Guro is the Director of the MSU Press and Information Office. She's right now taking her PhD at the University of Melbourne in Australia.

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine showed me her heartbreaking post, "Good night, world", which has become viral online. The post is both a painful lamentation of the tragedy in Marawi and a firm reminder of the city's resilience. I felt myself crushing while reading it, but I relieved knowing that this is not just an ordinary city they sought to burn. This is one of the region's jewels, with centuries of history of rise and fall behind it. No matter how many times they burn it to the ground, the city will rise and rise again. 

The post has since been translated into many various languages, including Cebuano, which I did myself. I hope I did justice to the original. Thank you, El Anisha. 

-------------------
Maayo’ng gabii, kalibutan.
 
Maayo’ng gabii, kalibutan. Ug ang akong hinigugmang Dakbayan sa Marawi nagdilaab, daw usa ka babaye’ng gihimong halad sa usa ka mangtas. Sa kining higayon, dili alang sa pagluwas sa dakbayan gikan niining mangtas.  Nagdilaab kini aron pagtagbaw sa kahangol sa katawhan sa giyera ug kagubot gamit ang dakbayan. Ang iyang mga anak nagtan-aw samtang kini ginasunog, walay mabuhat samtang nagdahunog ang tingog sa tambol sa gubat sa tibuok dakbayan, timaan sa iyang kamatayon.
 
Sige magdilaab ka, ako’ng hinigugmang dakbayan. Gipili kang pangasaw-unon sa kayo sa mga tawo’ng pulos nahangol sa imong abo. Kung magdilaab ka, piliing mahayag kaayo aron ang imong pagkaugda maoy magpakita sa tana’ng gusto sa imong kagub-anan unsay nagapaabot kanila sa impiyerno. Kay gikan sa imo’ng abo, mobarog ka. Sama sa usa ka Phoenix mabanhaw ka, ug ipanganak ang bag-ong Marawi. O dili kaha, mabalik ang kanhing bantoga’ng Dansalan.
 
Bisan pa gipasakitan, gibudhian, gituros, imong mapildi kining tanan aron lamang imong matagamtam pag usab ang gakos sa imong mga anak. Walay labing hingpit ug lig-on pa sa pagpangga sa usa ka inahan ngadto sa iyang mga anak.
 
Mabuhi ka, ako’ng hinigugmang dakbayan. Ang imong matuod nga mga anak ug mga sinagup nagahulat kanimo. Kadtong mibudhi kanimo, may adlaw ra nga magbasol sila…gipili nila ang sayop nga dapig sa imong istorya.
 
Ang orihinal sinulat ni El Anisha
Gihubad sa Binisiya ni Christine Rom

Good night world.
by El Anisha

Good night world. And my beloved Marawi City profusely burns, like a sacrificial woman offered to the monster. This time, it is not to save the city from the monster. She burns that men’s lust for war and destruction might be satisfied at the expense of the city. Her children watch her being torched, unable to douse off the fire from her as the crescendoing war drums reverberate throughout the place, heralding her funeral pyre.

Burn now my beloved city. You were chosen to be the bride of fire by men whose only common denominator is their desire for your ashes. If you must be ablaze, then burn brightly that your conflagration may demonstrate to those who had wanted your devastation what awaits them in hell. But from your ashes, you shall rise. Like the Phoenix, you will be reborn from your ashes to a new Marawi. Or to your old glory—Dansalan. Though broken, betrayed, and bleeding, you will overcome all of these to be with the loving embrace of your sons and daughters. There is no greater, more sublime, and more powerful love than the love of a mother for her children.

You will rise my beloved city. Your true sons and daughters and your adopted children await you. Those who have set you on fire will one day rue that they were ever on the wrong side of your story. 

Check the other translations here.

I came across Yasmina Khadra while looking for authors similar to Khaleed Hossein in terms of style and impact. It’s been a long time since Khaleed published anything, and I'm missing his simple, yet sincere and provocative storytelling.
 
Luckily, I was able to secure the other day Khadra’s “The Sirens of Baghdad”, a 200-page narrative about life in Baghdad and the tragic conditions that lead people to extremism. This was timely, as the Philippines is also right now struggling with extremists in Marawi, one of the country's major cities in the south.