‘Book Haul’ by Cecil Robin Singalaoa, watercolor on cotton rag paper, 2020, 4×6 inches
Text and photos by Elizabeth Lolarga
Like National Artist Virgilio S. Almario and Luisa A. Igloria, poet laureate emerita of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Ruth Elynia Mabanglo, exercises the poem-a-day discipline.
While the first two may have secular, even nostalgic, concerns posted on their social media accounts, Elynia sends her finished prayer poems through individual and group chat accounts on Messenger before 8 am. The receivers cannot help but begin their day in a sacred frame of mind. And may I add, without any preachiness—just heartfelt lyrics to possible songs winging through the ether.
Elynia, declared Makata ng Taon by the Komisyon ng Wikang Pilipino in 1992, recently launched her latest poetry collection, Papuri at Pagsamo: Mga Tulang Dalangin, under the auspices of the Filipinas Institute of Translation Inc. The attractive pink hearts and green katakataka plant cover is the handiwork of Indira and her National Artist mother, Imelda Cajipe Endaya. Not your usual missal, although it has the size of one and the thickness at 264 pages.
Dramatist Glecy Atienza, in her inside blurb, described the poet’s verses as “pan de kaluluwa,” or “parang maagang potpot ng nagtitinda ng pandesal sa umaga.” It is soul food for the reader before he/she fully wakens or rises from the bed. If one slept in drunken stupor, the day’s verse has a way of making one’s hangover dissipate, to be replaced by inner strength to face the day ahead.
In short, Elynia is in the Sunflower Industry, the business of offering hope. Take it from her, who suffered a brain aneurysm in 2017 at the height of her professorial career at the University of Hawaii and Manoa, where she almost singlehandedly built its Filipino program.
She recalled that after her major brain surgery, she had amnesia for three months. “Since I had no relatives in Hawaii, my friends decided to put me under home care. They petitioned for my daughter to come to Hawaii to take care of me. So I decided to retire after 30 years of service at the University.”
She would check in on her good friend and ex-colleague, another esteemed teacher, Teresita Ramos, who was in her 90s. One afternoon, her Tita Terry, as she called her, admitted that she hadn’t had lunch yet because the help that usually bought the food did not arrive. Elynia was alarmed and advised her to sell her condo and return to Manila so she could take care of her.
At that time, there was one unit being sold at Elynia’s condo in Quezon City. Terry may have felt her predicament, so she agreed to join her.
Elynia took her back here and they became neighbors, Terry living one floor down. She was all right then, was able to cook her own breakfast. The younger neighbor cooked lunch and dinner for both of them.
Unfortunately, Terry was downed by dengue fever, which became fatal. She became bed-ridden for three-and-a-half years. Since she was alone, Elynia hired two helpers for her, one for daytime and one for night. The underlying depression that came with the sickness urged Elynia to release it through poetry.
She wrote and kept two notebooks of poems before sending them impromptu to her friends via chat. What she has done is unique, because no one has done this before in Philippine literature, as far as I can tell.
During these recent years, Elynia’s spirituality has grown. She said, “I found myself more
peaceful than when I was growing up and my mother died. I was sent to live with my mother’s youngest sibling, who did not care a bit for me.”
Today, she said, “Poetry is my constant companion which has kept my sanity.”
Another unique thing about her book is it is not for sale. She is not selling the book. Instead, she is “giving it free because it’s my love offering to God. I ordered 5,000 copies and have been giving them away.”
Book cover design by Indira and Imelda Cajipe Endaya
Following is a prayer poem, fairly recent and not included in the book. Perhaps, it will be in the sequel.
Amang Banal,
Muli’y iniyakap mo sa amin
Ang wagas Mong pagpapala
At paglingap—
Kayo na nakapag-aalis
Ng agam-agam nami’t
Pagdurusa;
Kayo na nakapagbubura
Ng dalamhati’t kapighatian;
Kayo na lagi’t lagi naming
Nilalapitan sa lahat
Ng pangangailangan.
Salamat po, Amang Banal ,
Hindi mo kami pinababayaan;
Hindi kami tinalikdan
Kailanman;
Kayo na lagi naming kasalo
Sa lahat ng panahon;
Kayo na katuwang namin
Sa araw-araw na buhay namin;
Kulang po ang salamat namin,
Kulang po ang anumang
Handog namin;
Ngunit dahil kasama kayong lagi,
Wagas at taimtim
Ang aming mga hain;
Umaangat nang walang liwag
Sa Inyo at benibendisyonan
Ninyo nang todo-todo;
Salamat po sa luwalhati
Ng Inyong pagpapala;
Sa kakulangan nami’y
Nagpapaganap;
Nagpapakompleto sa aming
Tiyak;
Nagpapabanal sa aming lahat,
Ngayon at magpakailanman,
Amen.
