She went to walk to the other end of the stage
Her feet rises one after the other, as if jumping,
When she reaches the other edge, she raises her arms and stands a while
She did this for many times; sometimes running,
sometimes walking. Her eyes sometimes search
she is looking for something;
There is a little girl who came with her mother
First, the wave of prayer. “Santa Maria
Madre de Dios rega por nosotros…”
It is seconded by her feet: pak pak pak pak
“…pecadores ahora y hasta para cuando…”
No one complains, no one thinks wrong of it
even if everyone sits, kneeling, praying
The Holy Virgin sits on the table
Three: A little girl’s laughter
“Amen.”
Floraime is a Basileña who majored in Literature, Linguistics, and Language Teaching at the Iligan Institute of Technology of the Mindanao State University. She is currently teaching subjects on Literary and Language Studies in the same university. The poem “Santifica” is the first Chabacano literary piece ever published in Dagmay. “Sanctify” is the approximation of the meaning in the Chabacano language, and not the translation, as indicated by the author herself.