Limang Tanaga

The Tanaga, by tradition do not really have any titles. Since most of the elderly philosophies of early Filipinos come in proverb form (talinhaga), and thus an Oral history, titles were nearly non-essential; the four lines should speak for itself.

That is to say, even in it's written forms in the baybayin/alibata script, titles were never a necessity in Tanagas. Some moderns have included a title though in order to add a new dimension of meaning, but this collection of Five Tanagas by Mark respects the Tanaga in its purest traditional form even if each represents modern-day realism:

O, Banal na Pagitan
sinambit mo ang ngalan
nitong abuhing malay;
pumikit sa kanluran.


Dalagang walang libog
kamiso'y lampas-tuhod
nang lumusong sa ilog
mga hito'y nalunod.


O, mahinhing biyolin
dalit ko'y iyong dinggin—
Paano susuyuin
ang iyong pagkabirhen?


Nangarap makapunta
si Nonoy sa Canada,
(engineer ang karera)
pipik-ap ng basura.


Talinhagang ginagap
ano't nang kanyang hawak
biglaang naging tabak
sa isipa'y sumugat.

- Mark Angeles, Philippines.