Rembrandt

Bakô daw na makaribaráw kun pâno kamí nag-íirinotan
pasíring sa tingráw asín arín man na maliwánag?
An daí mi nanggád pagpilì sa madiklóm na párte

kan chiaroscuro tibáad húli man saná sa samóng kapaslôán
asín kanigôan na pagmâwot na mámansayan an gabós.
An samóng labi-lábing pagbôót na kuahón asín sadiríhon

an arín man na nahíhiling, nagbúta sa samô pagkatápos
kan gabós. Daí nanggád na kamí nakánood
sa gabós mong giníbo, Rembrandt.

Daí mi náhiling kun pânó mo kinupkóp an diklóm
asín iká nabúhay digdí na panô nin kaogmáhan.
Kamí, sa mga panahón na iní,

minásikwal sa mga madidiklóm na kwárto, daíng ílaw
na mga erokán, mga banggíng daíng bitôon,
asín mga nangíngitom na láwog.

Diklóm. Nagín kaoragán kan saímong árte
an kadiklomán asín nagpâísi samúya
kun gurâno kagayón an mga línya

sa láwog kan táo, kwinádro
sa lumlóm kan lugár kun saín an buláw na bangráw
minahílig gíkan sa haralangkáw na bintána.

Sa saímong mga kamót,
iníng kaitumán na síring sa diklóm kan Hádes,
inôómaw, minámâwot, asín namómôtan,

tibáad húli sa pag-agdá
kan saímong mga matá. Anó bayâ
an saímong iniísip?

Ay, kamí na nabubúhay na may tákot
sa samóng mga aníno asin labí ka-puláng dugô,
kinákaipúhan pang makaáram.


Rembrandt

Is it not disquieting how we race
toward the light and anything bright?
How we never opt for that dark

area of chiaroscuro is perhaps because
of our greed or lust to see everything.
Our desire to own and keep the visible

for ourselves have blinded us
after all. We have not learned
from what all you did, Rembrandt.

We did not see how you took
shelter in gloom and
delighted in it. We, in these times,

abhor dingy rooms, unilluminated
apartments, starless evenings,
and purpling faces.

Darkness. You have mastered
darkness in your art and revealed
for us how beautiful are the creases

of a human face, framed
by a shadowy precinct where yellow
sunlight diffuses from upper windows.

In your hands,
this Hadean blackness becomes
admired, desired, and loved,

perhaps upon the allure
of your eyes. What was it
you were thinking about?

Oh, we who are fraught with fright
of our shadows and dark red blood,
still must know.