Category: Poetry

(Thoughts on a cool October eve.)

Do not expect the rain to fall
Just because the Northern winds
Blew to your direction —
It may change its course.

Do not expect the rain to fall
Just because the Southern fields
Are prepared and overturned—
It may not ready to receive its grace.

Do not expect the rain to fall
Just because the golden seeds
Have flourished and grown – –
It may be waiting for some more time.

Do not expect the rain to fall
Just because the ritual dances
Were performed and shown —
It may be out of synch and tune.

Yet, when it falls,

Do not expect the rain to stop
Just because the Northern winds
Change its direction –
As a cosmic process, it has to grieve.

Do not expect the rain to stop
Just because the Southern fields
Are under inundation –
Avarice and greed, too, have its price.

Do not expect the rain to stop
Just because the harvested riches
Need time for accumulation –
Fortune for anyone is never adequate!

Do not expect the rain to stop
Just because it heavily drenches
Spirits and egos overblown —
What else is there for its cure?

---

Bayan Muna representative Carlos Zarate used to be a working journalist. He continues to write an occasional column at a national broadsheet.

Yes, I vividly recall
the nights
And days we seem
to get along:
Was it just a year
or eonspast?
But it feels like a lifetime;
Or, another life;
yes, another time !

Honestly,howregretful
are the ways
Those nights progress, fade :
When shackled games
are played and replayed;
When spirits and egos
are bloated, sullied!
And then, there
you are , Amparo —
Coming like a fresh whiff
of air most serene
Sobering the drunkenness
ofsouls disappeared,
Massaging the numbness
of aruined, snuffed heart.

But, why, I asked,
O’ happiness dear,
As the laughterfills,
nay, overflows my glass,
arranging, uttering,
singing affectionate songs,
As the letters flow, rage down
my pen’svein,
rummaging , dredging
o’er buried pasts;
You remove
thewinged shield
thatfreely nurtures,
thatnaturally fortifies;
I am, ruined now,
buried.
By the hills
defenseless.
Broken,
alone.
Again.

—
Mr. Zarate is Bayan Muna representative at the 16th Congress.