Siak So Ilog Agno Poem by Ferdinand L Quintos

Diad silong na maawang a tawen,
palbango’y panaon la’n ontatatken,
sinmobol ak ed diking na Mt. Data,
ed kapalandeya’y Cordillera,
inampopo’y linaew tan kelpa,
silew ko’y bitewen, bulan, tan banwa.

Ganggan balet na Ina Natura,
ya dia’d pusok akakurit la,
katagey na pagew a nanlapuan
so agko nayari’n lampasan,
ingen kanepegan ko’y onkurang,
anapen so dili’n kapalaran.

Siak so binmuat, dalan inanap ko,
sinurob ko’y sengat da ‘ray bato,
anawet ya dalin so kinuykoy,
aralem ira’n kelas tinaboy,
agew tan labi anggapoy tunda
anggapo’y ogip o painawa.

Dia’d dalan nabet ko ‘ray kaparak,
baleg o melag akila ira’d siak,
nanpapara’y getma tan gagala,
pare-pareho so inkapalsa
tampol nanlakapan, nansayaksak,
nankasakey, nagmaliw kami’n siak.

Siak so Ilog Agno.

Kesaw tan ermen agko alikna,
intuloy ko’y dili’k ya odesia,
atamdagan ko so singa say siak,
Gulfo’y Lingayen, ‘kua’y dagem ed siak,
kurang ko’y dia’d sikato inmarap,
tinmiblong ak, sikato’y linakap.

Tinukor ko so kaaralem to,
sinukisok ko’y kalaparan to,
inaral ko’y inlesa to’d mundo,
galaw tan kiwas to inimano,
dakel a naamtaan ko’d sikato
agto balet kabat so bilay ko.

Anggaman anto so kabaleg to,
agto amta no iner ak nanlapu,
anggan sikato’y walaa’y kasil,
agos ko so agto napapawil,
agko naaruma’y kabaleg to,
ag balet naupot so laman ko.

Matatken la’y panaon tan mundo
balet tuloy ni’y panbibilay ko,
ta siak ni’y papawita’y tagano
na sobol no iner ak nanlapu
tekep so masantos ya panangaro
na makapanyari ya Dios tayo.

Siak so Ilog Agno.

English translation:

I Am The River Agno

Under the vast skies,
at dawn of now-aging time,
I sprang from the slope of Mt. Data
of the Cordillera mountains,
cared by the dews and mists,
my light were the stars, moon, and sun.

But it is Mother Nature’s law,
in my heart written,
the height of breast I came from,
I can not rise above,
but rather I have to move on,
seek my own destiny.

I set out, sought my way,
I crept through cracks and crevices of rocks,
pushed through the hard earth,
went down deep canyons,
night and day I did not stop,
I had no sleep or rest.

Along the way I met other’s like me,
big or small they went with me,
born for the same purpose
and of the same nature
we united, we became me.

I am the River Agno.

Weariness and sadness I did not mind,
I went on my own odyssey,
I saw one like me, Gulf of Lingayen, the wind told me.,
my flow turned toward it,
I dived in, and I embraced it.

I fathomed its depth,
I searched its vastness,
its movements and character I observed,
I tried to learn how it came into being,
I learned much about it,
but it doesn’t know anything about me.

No matter how big it is,
it knows not where I came from,
though it has the strength,
it can not push back my flow,
P can not make it bigger,
but it can not consume me.

Time, like the world, is getting old
but I go on existing
because I still get nourishment
from the spring I came from
along with the blessed love
of the powerful God.

I am the River Agno.

(Agno is one of the principal rivers of the Philippines. It is found in Luzon, one of the country's three main island groups.)