Hiroshima Trip, Post 5: To My Little Darling

Kana' tumanges annai hu taitai este na betsu. Gi i tiempo-ku guini giya Hapon, meggai na estoria hu hungok put i pinadesin i maninafekta ni' i hinatmen atomic. Siempre bula na aniti gi este na lugat, sa:' siempre Siha chumochonnek i taotao guini mo'na gi i kinalamten kontra atmas nuclear.
Un hibakusha na palao'an tumuge' este gi 1973. Estaba gui giya Hiroshima annai hinatme ni' i atmas atomic, lao ti matai gui'. Lao annai mumapotge gui' duru chathinasso-na na sina nina'dano' i patgon-na ni' i radiation. Ha tuge'i i patgon-na este annai gaigaige ha' gi halom i tiyan-na. Para este na klasin taotao (i mannina'ye radiation), guaha racism kontra siha, sa' nu i otro na taotao Hapon, kalang kalaskas, but manamatatse este siha. Ti debi di un asagua este na klasin taotao siha sa' attelong i haga'-niha, madano' i tahtaotao-niha. Achokka' esta 65 na sakkan desde ayu na baba na ogga'an, sigi ha' ma susedi gui' ta'lo'lo kada na mafanagu un patgon.

Hu sodda' este na betsu gi un hinekka' tinige' i na'an-na "Burned Like Fallen Leaves."
Estague i betus. Yanggen ti pinacha' hao ni', buente ti taotao hao, buente mismo acho' i korason-mu yan lamas esta i ante-mu.
********************************
To My Little Darling
by Mitsue Furuta
1973

Are your hands all right?
Do you have two eyes?
How about ears and a nose?

You will laugh to hear this,
But I am very uneasy.
Although your mother is healthy,
You might be -------- You might be ----------
Because of that hot flash that sparkled that day
Because of the black rain that fell that day

Indescribable sufferings of those people
Burned as if they were old rags
Are unbearable to me,
Unbearable to these eyes that have not even seen the disaster
Is it because I am a mother now
That I can see what happened that day?

Spring is knocking on the window-pane.
Soon will midsummer flowers
Bloom in the dazzling sun.
Then will you stretch your arms?
What will you see when you first open your eyes?
What will you feel for the first time in your life?
When that happy day comes
The day of your coming into the world,
Your mother will celebrate
With your father and friends.
The blue sky, the flowers, the little round sun,
All will celebrate.

Will you accept
These humble gifts,
My little one?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chamoru Love Sayings

Image
A student from my Zoom Chamoru classes recently asked me for some suggestions for some Chamoru sayings or words of wisdom that she could use for a speech she had to give for a friend's wedding.  I get this type of request pretty frequently and so over the years I have a number of lists of ways to say "I Love You" in Chamoru. For years that was one of the my most visited pages on this blog, a simple page that had more than a dozen different ways to say "Hu Guaiya Hao" ranging from the poetic and deep, to the silly and sexy.  When I looked at many of those lists, I realized that the majority of the ways love was expressed, was indeed written in Chamoru, but not necessarily rooted in Chamoru. What I mean by this, is that alot of the sayings were simply translated from English or variants of ways that love would be expressed in English.  For me, I am definitely in support of these sorts of things, I love having our language adapt and take on new forms, especially wh
Read more

Chamorro Public Service Post #15: Pues Adios, Esta Ki

A lot of people end up visiting this blog because they are searching around the internet for lyrics to Chamorro songs. Over the years I’ve pasted a couple here and there, but haven’t really kept up with it as much as I should. I complain all the time about there not being enough internet presence for the Chamorro language and for Chamorro thoughts and so I feel bad when I inadvertently contribute to that absence. På’go, gaige yu’ gi i gima’ iyo-ku grandfather. Desde i ma’pos’ña na mes, kumakatre gui’. Kana’ hineart attack gui’, ya sumaga’ gui’ gi i espitåt para tres meses. Mana’huyong gi i ma’pos na mes, ya sumåsaga’ gui’ gi i gima’, lao ti ha hulat tumohgue sin ayuda. Kada na puengge måtto yu’ gi i gima’-ña para i tetno-hu pumulan gui’. Gi este na tiempo, tåya’ internet, pues siña hu usa este para bai hu fanhasso. Manhasso yu’ put i lina’la’-hu pat i guinife-hu. Buente i chinathinasso-ku siha lokkue’. Tonight, I was trying to figure out what would be the best song to share the lyrics
Read more

Tuleti

Image
I was racking my brain recently to determine what was the first ever Chamorro song that was featured in a motion picture. Noon Sunday was the first every motion picture to be filmed primarily on Guam, prior to that some minor filming had been done on Guam for World War II and Godzilla films but nothing substantial. Noon Sunday was not set in Guam, but it was the first film to feature extensively the island of Guam. Guam was the locale for a fictional Pacific island that was being taken over by a menacing Asian power. Almost all the speaking roles went to people from off-island (from the US or the Philippines), and Chamorros ended up playing most of the "extra" roles. As a result the film didn't feature any Chamorro music. You do find documentaries and television programs, all locally produced that feature Chamorro songs of at least Chamorros singing songs. Guam's History Through Songs, made by the late Carmen Santos is a perfect example of this. For those of you u
Read more