diak mautob diak metten maibus ti kankanek a saludsod
inkagumaanak laeng met ti ayat
impettengko ti lidayko pinabus-oyak laeng ti karbengak a saanak a balud
ania a ragsak ti diak pay natukod?
ania a basol ti diak pay nabulod?
ania pay a ruangan ti nasken a ruarak?
Ang Dapat kong Lalabasan*
hindi ko mawari hindi ko na maubos ang kinakain kong katanungan
sinubukan ko lang naman ang pag-ibig
ipinagpilitan ko ang aking lungkot pinagbigyan ko lamang ang karapatan kong di ako isang bilanggo
anong kaligayahan ang hindi ko pa nasusukat?
anong kasalanan ang hindi ko pa nahihiram?
ano pang pintuan ang dapat kong lalabasan?
*salin sa Filipino
Roy Vadil Aragon is a fictionist and a poet who writes mostly in Ilokano language. Many of his poems, short stories, and essays are published in Bannawag, an Ilokano magazine. He has won some writing prizes, awards, and fellowships for his fiction and poetry. He published his first printed book, BAGI dandaniw, a collection of selected Ilokano poetry, in 2015. In 2017, he published PAKSUY dandaniw & poems, a chapbook of poems in Ilokano and English. His selected Ilokano short stories, BANNUAR ken Dadduma Pay a Fiksion, was published in 2018. In 2000, he released a digital book of Ilokano poetry, Napili ken Saan a Napili a Dandaniw ken Dadduma Pay a Riknakem, considered as the first Ilokano poetry ebook. In 2019, he published two more Ilokano poetry collections, RABII 100 a #tweetniw, and BARIBARI. Besides writing, he edits and designs books, works as a freelance translator and editor, maintains a food blog, administers Facebook pages on Ilokano food and urban/container gardening, and pets a rooster, a hen, and three cats.