Saranggola ni Pepe was sung by Celeste Legaspi and was written by her husband Nonoy Gallardo. It was believed that the song was really about Martial Law with
Pepe as Marcos, the deaf old man. But stripped of its political meanings, the song is a nice lyrical poem. The poem has six-line stanzas. Each stanza has three pairs of rhyming lines: lines 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and 5 and 6. There is also inline rhyming in the lines 3 and 4:
Umihip ang hangin, nawala sa paningin
Sigaw ng kahapon, nilamon na ng alon
...
Hinuli ang ibon, pinagsuot ng pantalon
Tinali ng pisi, hindi na nagsinturon
...
Pinilit umawit, ang naglaro’y isang ingit
Lumuha ang langit at ang mundo ay nanliit
It is difficult to properly translate the song following the meter of the original, while preserving the rhyming scheme. So what I did was to try to be faithful to the meter so that the translation can be sung, while using different rhyming schemes and alliterative structures. Below is my translation.
A. Pepe’s Kite (Saranggola ni Pepe)
Singer: Celeste Legazpi
Writer: Nonoy Gallardo
Tagalog Lyrics Source:
Genius Lyrics
Tagalog-to-English Translation: Monk's Hobbit
Far is the flight of Pepe’s kite
Far are the dreams of the deaf old man
With the wind it flew and was lost in sight
Yesterday's reckoning was buried by the tide
Faint is the tolling of friar's bells ringing
Loud is the clinking of a woman praying
[Matayog ang lipad ng saranggola ni Pepe
Matayog ang pangarap ng matandang bingi
Umihip ang hangin, nawala sa paningin
Sigaw ng kahapon, nilamon na ng alon
Malabo ang tunog ng kampanilya ni Padre
Maingay ang taginting, rosaryo ng babae]
Nay, nay, nay, nay...
Far is the flight of Pepe’s kite
Far are the dreams of the deaf old man
He caught the pigeon, and its pantaloons
He tied with a string, but girded not its loins
A jeepney passed by and sketched in the roadside
Leaving charcoal pieces he never kept aside
[Matayog ang lipad ng saranggola ni Pepe
Matayog ang pangarap ng matandang bingi
Hinuli ang ibon, pinagsuot ng pantalon
Tinali ng pisi, hindi na nagsinturon
Dumaan ang jeepney at gumuhit pa sa kalye
Mauling ang iniwang hindi na tinabi]
Nay, nay, nay, nay...
Far is the flight of Pepe’s kite
Far are the dreams of the deaf old man
He breathed out to sing, but blurted out squeaking
Teardrops fell from heaven and the world was shrinking
From the fence was waving the guardian angel calling
The old man obeyed not but followed his heart
[Matayog ang lipad ng saranggola ni Pepe
Matayog ang pangarap ng matandang bingi
Pinilit umawit, ang naglaro’y isang ingit
Lumuha ang langit at ang mundo ay nanliit
Kumakaway sa bakod ang anghel na nakatanod
Sumusuway sa utos, puso’y sinusunod]
Nay, nay, nay, nay...
B. Translation Notes
I shall divide my notes regarding my translation into stanzas and lines, e.g. 1.4 is stanza 1 line 4.
1.2 The phrase "deaf old man" is "matandang bingi", because "matanda" is an old person, male or female. But Pepe is normally a man's name.
1.4 "Yesterday's reckoning was buried by the tide" (Sigaw ng kahapon, nilamon na ng alon). "Sigaw" is "shout". I used "reckoning" or "pagalaala" instead of shout in order to exploit the "r" sound in "yesterday" and "buried". Also, "alon" is "wave" not "tide". I used "tide" to rhyme with "sight". "Nilamon" is "was swallowed" not "was buried". I used "buried" both for the "r" sound and alliteration with "by". But on a second thought, "was swallowed" has a nice ring to it, because "was" and "swa" sound good together. A more accurate translation of "Sigaw ng kahapon, nilamon na ng alon" is "Yesterday's shout was swallowed by the waves."
1.5 "Faint is the tolling of friar's bells ringing" (Malabo ang tunog ng kampanilya ni Padre). A "padre" is a generic name for priest, whether regular (religious) or secular. I chose the translation "friar" for padre, because "friars" or "frayles" are the mendicant religious orders (e.g. Agustinians, Carmelites, Dominicans, and Franciscans) who were responsible for the conversion of the whole Philippines to the Catholic, save for the enclaves of Muslims and Pagans.
1.6 "Loud is the clinking of a woman praying" (Maingay ang taginting, rosaryo ng babae). A more accurate translation would be "Loud is the clinking of a woman's rosary". It is difficult to put woman and rosary together in the second half of the line and make the end word rhyme with "clinking" and at the same time conform to the song's meter.
2.3 "He caught the pigeon, and its pantaloons" (Hinuli ang ibon, pinagsuot ng pantalon). A more accurate translation is "He caught the bird, and clothe it with pants." I used "pigeon" to make it rhyme with "pantaloons".
2.4 "He tied with a string, but girded not its loins" (Tinali ng pisi, hindi na nagsinturon). Literally, "he tied with a string, [he] did not wear a belt." There is a wordplay in images here. The pants can apply to the boy who used a string instead of a belt. The "bird" can refer to the boy's reproductive organ which he needs to hide with a pair pants.
2.5 "A jeepney passed by and sketched in the roadside" (Dumaan ang jeepney at gumuhit pa sa kalye). There is a play of images here. The sentence structure says that it is the jeepney's wheels which drew on the road. But the jeepney can also represent the boy who drew on the road with charcoal. I used the word "sketched" because it sounds like "screeched"
2.6 "Leaving charcoal pieces he never kept aside" (Mauling ang iniwang hindi na tinabi). The imagery is that of a jeepney's passing which created a cloud of charcoal dust from the exhaust. I used "pieces" instead of smoke or cloud, because "piece" can refer to a charcoal painting drawn by the boy on the road.
3.6 "The old man obeyed not but followed his heart" (Sumusuway sa utos, puso’y sinusunod). "Sumusuway sa utos" is "disobeying the command". I initially used the word "heed" because it sounds like "head" to match with "heart". Another option would be to use "heard" instead of "heed" to make it sound like "heart". I settled with "obeyed" because it is more accurate and alliterates with "old".
C. What is the poem all about?
Saranggola ni Pepe is a poem about an old man reminiscing his childhood while waiting for his death. He remembered the church bells tolling from afar for the Angelus and how perhaps his mother would lead the praying of the rosary when the sun sets at 6 pm. He remembered the pigeon whose legs he would wound with a paper and tie with a string, as text messages were sent before not via Twitter but through
homing pigeons, which were used by armies during World Wars I and II when the wireless telegraphs lines are broken or destroyed. He remembered the jeepney, which was invented after World War II from scraps of military jeeps, but made longer and wider to accommodate more passengers. And when the jeepney passed by, it would erase the boy's charcoal drawings on the street, such as those used for playing piko, a children's hopping game where the goal is build houses on vacant lots bounded by the charcoal marks, in such a way that the other players would have no more place to land their feet.
We can assume that the old man has been a faithful Catholic, as suggested by the Catholic elements of rosary, church bells, friars, and guardian angel. If these are the last things that he recalls, then these must be the most important things and persons in his life that left a mark on his soul.
The old man labored to sing--perhaps a childhood rhyme--but only a gasp came out as tears flowed down his cheeks. It was the last gasps of the dying man. His guardian angel said it was time to die, so we can assume he is going to heaven; otherwise, he would be tormented by demons instead. But the dying man refused to let go yet of his mortal frame and continued to recall the past. The song ended here, but it is possible to extend the lyrics to three or six more stanzas to include the days of his manhood, how he got a wife, made a family, and saw his grandchildren. Then the old man would recall how he lived his life and examine his conscience, so that he can for call a priest, confess his sins, and receive the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. It is a grace of God to live long unto old age, so that one can prepare for death and die well. As Our Lady of the Rosary promised to the St. Dominic and Blessed Alain de la Roche (
Fifteen Rosary Promises):
5. The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish. 6. Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its sacred mysteries, shall never be conquered and never overwhelmed by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death (unprepared for heaven). The sinner shall convert. The just shall grow in grace and become worthy of eternal life. 7. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church. 8. Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have, during their life and at their death, the light of God and the plenitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the saints in paradise. 13. I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death
Perhaps, the ending of the song is just right. We can assume that he died thereafter. It was a happy death, since the melody of Saranggola ni Pepe is not a sad but happy. So let us end this song analysis with a
prayer to St. Joseph, the patron of happy death:
O Blessed Joseph, you gave your last breath in the loving embrace of Jesus and Mary. When the seal of death shall close my life, come with Jesus and Mary to aid me. Obtain for me this solace for that hour - to die with their holy arms around me. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I commend my soul, living and dying, into your sacred arms. Amen.
Because of the lockdown in most parts of the Philippines and in the world, I remembered the song Uptown Girl by Billy Joel. The uptown girl lived in an uptown world who later looked for a downtown man. The words uptown and downtown rhymes with lockdown. So I wrote the title: "Uptown Girl, Locked Down World."
The revised lyrics is a meditation on different meanings of the word "locked down world":
The revised lyrics is also a meditation on two meanings of "uptown":
Day 14
Day 35
_Christus_im_Hause_der_Martha.jpg/1024px-Georg_Friedrich_Stettner_(attr)_Christus_im_Hause_der_Martha.jpg)
I don’t know how many times I have studied the Bible, because it is difficult to quantify the word “study”. Is studying the Bible equal to the number of hours you spent reading some books in the Bible? Or is it the number of times you have read the Bible from Genesis to the Book of Revelation? But even then, many of the most learned people who studied the Bible—spending hours, days, weeks, and years poring Biblical texts—may still end up as heretics, e.g. Arius (Arianism), Luther (Protestantism), and Manalo (Iglesia ni Cristo). Remember that even Satan can quote Sacred Scripture (c.f. 
There is no clear denunciation by Jesus of a gay man or woman, in the same way as he would denounce the Scribes and Pharisees: “Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees!” (
The Catholic Church is the Body of Christ with Christ as its head (c.f. 
The Catholic Church is the Body of Christ. Thus, if the Church forgives the sins of a repentant gay man or woman, it is Christ Himself who forgives him or her. If the Church denounces homosexual acts as intrinsically disordered, then it is Jesus Christ Himself who makes the denouncement. As St. Ignatius said:
by Louis J. Puhl, SJ, p. 160)