Escribe, José-Manuel, Escribe!
by the ancestors of José-Manuel Navarro
written in response to Miedo a Escribir published by José-Manuel
in the Fall 2010/Winter 2011 issue of the PhilWP Journal
Dices que no escribiras
Nos desanimas
Sin ti, ningun bardo nos mantendra vivos en tu mundo
Tienes que contar nuestras historias
Alabanos con tu lira
Entona la salmodia de nuestra elegante vida campesina
Canta la diginidad de nuestra labores manuales
Honra el orgulla de nuestros logros
Logramos que cada generacion de nuestra familia fuera mejor mejor que la previa
Nuestros sacrificios de generaciones culminan en tus logros
Tu madre te enseno tus primera letras
Sento las bases para tus estudios avanzados
Tus estudios pulieron tu capacidad de moldear de letras palabras
Ahora, esculpe de palabras oraciones
Fragua de oraciones parrafos
Forja de parrafos ensayos, cuentos poemoas y novelas
Hijo querido: atiendenos bien
Tienes que escribir
Necesitamos que escribas
Insistimos que escribas
Contamos con que escribas
Demandamos que escribas
Te ordenamos a escribir
Escribe, José-Manuel, Escribe!
Dear son: heed us well
You must write
You say that you won't write
You disappoint us
Without you, no bard will keep us alive in your world
You must tell our stories
Sing our praises with your lyre
Intone our psalmody as elegant country folk
Hail the dignity of our manual labor
Honor the pride of our achievement
We made each succeeding generation of ours better than the preceding one
Our sacrifices over generations culminate in your achievements
Your mother taught you your first letters
She laid the base that led to your advanced studies
Your studies honed your ability to mold letters into words
Now, sculpt words into sentences
Craft sentences into paragraphs
Assemble paragraphs into essay, short stories, poem, and novels
Dear son: heed us well
You must write
We need you to write
We insist that you write
We expect you to write
We demand that you write
We command you to write
Write, José-Manuel, Write!