"Pagpulî"

Iinútan ko an maagahón

tangáning abúton an inot na turáok

kan mga manók ni tatay. Idtóng

daí nindá maáaráman

o marirísa na akó nag-abót na

asín nasa laóg na kan haróng.

Iinútan ko an dikítdikit

na pagliwánag kan langit

asín an pagmatá kan banwáan.

Buót ko na mainot akó

sa pagkaràkarâ kan binúbukasan

na radyo o binúbuklat na diyáryo.

Iinútan ko an inot na gios

kan mga guráng asín mga akì,

malihip tangáning daí makaribaráw.

Huli ta an buót kong mangyári

magmatá sindáng garó kaibá

nindá akó kan nakaáging banggí.

(English)

"Coming Home"

I will come before dawn

to hear the first crow

of father’s cocks. So that

they will neither know

nor feel my arrival

and that I am already at home.

I will come before the skies

slowly brighten before

the town rises up from slumber.

I want to be there before the sound

of the radio being switched on

or a newspaper being opened.

I will come before the first stir

of my folks and my siblings,

and be still to not disturb them.

Because what I want is this:

that they wake up as if

I were with them last night.

Pagpuli (Coming Home) is a poem in the Bikol language from V.D.T. Nierva's first book 'Antisipasyon'. The poem is read by the author.