Paslep (Tempered Steel) 10 Ilocano Verses

Paslep (Tempered Steel) 

10 Ilocano Verses

Dr Abe V Rotor

Ethnobotany of the Itawes, by Mamerta Rocero SPC, PhD

Published by the National Museum, Manila Philippines 

1. Ayatennak pay

No irugita manen?
Ay, papaaweng.
Love the second time around may lack sincerity.

2. Karu-otan
Paggappuan ti uram,
Ken billit tuleng.
Fire warning on a grassy knoll may fall on deaf ear.
(Take heed of potential danger.)

3. Agmulat’ pagay
Inladawanna’t pader,
Nakasapatos pay.
"You can't grow rice on the blackboard." 

(Theory and practice are different. 

Things are easier said than done.)

4. Natartaripato,
Marmargaayan,
Matmatay.
Too much care and too much bounty lead to slow death. 

(Tender trap)

5. Ayat nga nagpayat
Umay, pumanaw,
Agnaed bassit.
Love has wings, it comes but briefly and leaves.

6. Agpilpilika
Ti ayat nga kayatmo,
Freud wenno Plato.
Physical (Freudian) or purist (Platonic) love - it's your choice

7. Burburti: Agpal-pallelang,
Bumab-baba ti init,
Maturog mamen.
A riddle: Acacia, its leaves droop as the sun sets.

8. Pitak ken ling-et
Paslep ti Oktubre
Makasisirap.
"Golden harvest is earned from hard work."

9. Panagipalangip:
Saan mo nga garawen.
Malinlinay.

Never stir rice to hasten its cooking.

10. Aginanan ni Maestro,
Imminum ti Hemlock.
Ballegi!
There is glory in death. (Socrates obligingly faced death clinging to his philosophy that changed the thinking of man. Similarly Rizal's death was victory to Filipinos.) ~

Bamboo, Giant Grass

Bamboo, Giant Grass

Dr Abe V Rotor

Museum of Natural History

University of the Philippines at Los Banos Laguna

Verses to Ponder: "Goodness builds on goodness in store."

Verses to Ponder:
"Goodness builds on goodness in store."

Dr Abe V Rotor

1. Lost time, lost opportunity and lost gain,
like passing wind that may not come again.

2. Who sees silver lining of clouds dark and bold
seeks not at rainbow's end a pot of gold.

Swallows on wire. Florida Blanca, Pampanga

3. A clenched fist softens under a blue sky
like high waves, after tempest, die.

4. When a flock of wild geese takes into the air
a leader must get ahead to break the barrier.

5. Even to a strong man, a little danger may create
the impression he's small or the problem is great.

6. In the doldrums or during sudden gusts,
the ship is much safer with a bare mast.

"Nature in love."

7. Wind, current, and keel make a perfect trio
only if they have one direction to follow.

8. You really can't tell where a sailboat goes
without keel, but to where the wind blows.

9. The sound of a yes may be deep or hollow,
and knowing it only by its own echo.

10. Walk, don't run, to see better and to know
the countryside, Mother Nature and Thou.~

11. We do not have the time, indeed an alibi
to indolence and loafing, letting time pass by.

Sun on a hazy day

12. As we undervalue ourselves, so do others
undervalue us. Lo, to us all little brothers.

13. Self-doubt at the start is often necessary
to seek perfection of the trade we carry.

14. What is more mean than envy or indolence
but the two themselves riding on insolence.

15. The worst kind of persecution occurs in the mind,
that of the body we can often undermine.

16. How seldom, if at all, do we weigh our neighbors
the way we weigh ourselves with the same favors?

17. Friendship that we share to others multiplies
our compassion and love where happiness lies.

18. Evil is evil indeed - so with its mirror,
while goodness builds on goodness in store.

Morning rainbow, Bamban, Tarlac 

19. That others may learn and soon trust you,
show them you're trustworthy, kind and true.

20. Kindness and gladness, these however small
are never, never put to waste at all.21. Beauty seen once breaks a heart,

Wait for the image to depart.

22. Being right and reasonable;
Black or white, and measurable.

23. She's coy who speaks soft and light;
Smoke first before fire ignites.

24. Every promise you can't keep
Drags you into a deeper pit.

Purple sampaguita {Jasminium sambac}

25. To endure pain of hatred,
A leader’s wisdom is dared.

26. Make believe prosperity;
Sound of vessel when empty.

27. Take from the ant or stork,
Patience is silence at work.

28. Good wine grows mellow with age;
Good man grows into a sage.

29. He finds reason for living
Who sees a new beginning.

30. Beauty builds upon beauty,
Ad infinitum to eternity. ~

Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Jackfruit - Outburst of a Lifetime

Jackfruit - Outburst of a Lifetime 

A phenomenon beyond our understanding,

yet in our very eyes does happen,

from algal and fungi bloom, to locust swarming,

 at the threshold of life before its end.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Author's wife Cecille counts the fruits of a single nangka tree,

including those arising from underground,  Agoo, La Union

Over laden with all these fruits,

a burst of a lifetime -

young to die, like a mother

cut in her prime. ~

Rolling Billboards: An ethico-moral question of road safety and courtesy

Rolling Billboards 

An ethico-moral question of road safety 

and courtesy

 Dr Abe V Rotor

Ban rolling billboards!

10 Verses to Live By Every Day

10 Verses to Live By Every Day

Dr Abe V Rotor

Banaoang Pass, Santa, Ilocos Sur, wall mural by the author 

1. Walk, don't run, to see better and to know
the countryside, Mother Nature and Thou.~

2. We do not have the time, indeed an alibi
to indolence and loafing, letting time pass by.

Sun on a hazy day

3. As we undervalue ourselves, so do others
undervalue us. Lo, to us all little brothers.

4. Self-doubt at the start is often necessary
to seek perfection of the trade we carry.

5. What is more mean than envy or indolence
but the two themselves riding on insolence.

6. The worst kind of persecution occurs in the mind,
that of the body we can often undermine.

7. How seldom, if at all, do we weigh our neighbors
the way we weigh ourselves with the same favors?

8. Friendship that we share to others multiplies
our compassion and love where happiness lies.

    Morning rainbow, Bamban, Tarlac 

9. Evil is evil indeed - so with its mirror,
while goodness builds on goodness in store.

10. That others may learn and soon trust you,

show them you're trustworthy, kind and true. ~

Home, Sweet Home in a Farm House

Home, Sweet Home in a Farm House 

“There is nothing more important than a good, safe, secure home.”. “Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to.”. “There’s no place like home.”. “Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.” (Internet)

Dr Abe V Rotor

 Brick Farm House painting by AVRotor

Home Sweet Home

By John Howard Payne

‘Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,

Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home;

A charm from the sky seems to hallow us there,

Which seek through the world, is ne’er met with elsewhere.

Home, Home, sweet, sweet Home!

An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain;

O, give me my lowly thatched cottage again!

The birds singingly gaily, that came to my call –

Give me them – and the peace of mind, dearer than all.

Home, Home sweet, sweet Home.

There’s no place like Home! 

There’s no place like Home!

 

The author and his children play Home Sweet Home.  

Music by Henry Rowley Bishop (1786-1855)

(Arranged for the violin and piano by Henry Farmer)