Bayo nga Gisi (Tattered Shirt)

Bayo ko nga gisi sanglit isa lamang (My tattered shirt,my only one)
Akon nga ubahon kay nanay palabhan (I'll take it off for mother to wash)
Akon nga isuksok daw indi makusuan (I'll wear it but it seemed unwashed)
Asta makalambot sa amon bolothoan. (Until I reach school)

Oras nga mag-recess kami mapahuway (During break time, we get to rest)
Iban nga kabataan nagabakal tinapay (Other children buy food)
Nagatulok lang ako sing masinulub-on (Sadly, I look at them with envy)
Si nanay si tatay wala ipabalon. (My mother and father have no money to spear)

Imol man ang iban nalaksan guid kami (If others are poor, we were really out of fate )
Walang sing pagkaon, wala sing pameste (We hardly get food and clothes)
Igo makatilaw kan-on tyimpo tig-alani (Only during harvest season where we get to ech much)
Kon tig-tugom gani, kayos kag kamote. (During lean season,we just eat root crops)

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A very relative rural folks song, reflective of the nuances in the society (in Panay); mainly of poverty and hunger. While this song found its abode in the minds of the once poor people in Panay (to include my mother's family), it continuously points at pressing crisis at the moment. A reminder to me of a once unfateful community and generation coming to pass, still with no way to go until today. History haunts.

*my mother taught us this song since I was a kid.