Singkwenta

Macky Torrechilla

May agi nga nasapwan sa tamburung,

tadlëng rën buol na.

May buno sa kilid,

ginlampësan ang hitsura.

Ang isturya,

Laki ang may ubra.

May taklës nga armas

sarang makapilas.

Ang akën miga,

nag-mering nga wara ti dara singkwenta.

Wara gid tana ka salir

sa armas nga dara.

Singkwenta.

Singkwenta run lang gali

ang bili

kang kabuhi kang agi kadya?

Fifty

A gay was found in the creek,

Dead.

stab wounds on his side,

And a face smashed to distortion.

Talk is,

A man did it to her.

Carrying a weapon

capable of wounding.

My friend here,

had sex without fifty pesos.

Fight back he wasn’t able,

against the two painful weapons.

Fifty.

Are the lives of gays

only worth fifty

nowadays?

[Translated from Kinaray-a to English by the author]