THE LOST LANGUAGE
Filipinos once had an ancient written language. If I were to show you what the marks look like on a piece of paper, they would look like a series
of waves. Or like Egyptian hieroglyphics. Like the eye of the Pharaoh I saw in my old high school history books.
The language was written on tree bark. Epics were probably written in this language, but I don’t know what they are. My ancestors are shadowy people. Shadows.
When I was a little girl, perhaps eight years old or so, my mother gave me a book of Philippine legends. The legends were mostly about beautiful maidens and enchanted animals. But the story I
liked best was about Hari sa Bukid, which means King of the Mountain.
Hari is not a particularly kingly word, to me. It begins with an explosion of breath, almost an
