IN FLIGHT (Poem 35)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


Let there be a better world
For the multitudinous children of Earth!

Why? That which I cannot count
Are bitter, unfed and undernourished
Un-parented, molested, prostituted, disabled
Forced to do trade at primes of innocence.
Squandered children—is this not Hell itself?

I shall fly soon
Having borne in me
The urge to care for them.

Children of Planet Earth
They who should capture the warm sunshine
Frolic the outdoor spaces with wild abandon
Bless the world with inexhaustible imagination

Propel humanity to go on existing.
All the children of Earth are sublime scions
Of the rich universe.


[Writ. 15 Sept. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 34)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago

O! Firefly!
The rains have arrived!
Wake up from your deep slumber!

Lend me your undying light!
Find me the celestial beacon
My Wings have been waiting for.
Bring to me the heavenly cue.

Light up the pathway of the sky!
I shall ascend soon.

Let me decipher your quizzical code:
I will just like you do
Upon having shared the Holy Beings’ harvest
Help to bring forth Light to peoples
Whose Paths may be so dark.

We are not the Light
We can be the Harbingers.


[Writ. 15 Sept. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 33)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


Here I am in my living sanctuary
Of higher learning—the dormitory
To reshape my faculties
Here I am

Waiting for the beacon
From the sky
Whence I shall fly.

Here I am
Comforted in a seemingly unending wait
By the native maya and robin
Singing encore their lovely melodies of solace;
By the evergreen leaves of shrubs and trees
Anchored so majestically outside my windows
Soothing like unto a great healer my tired eyes;
By the marvelous tunes of symphonies and renditions
My music box plays from morning till night;
By the cool monsoon breeze that flows gently
Into my room breathing pure air
To my lungs and organs.

Thanks to you all, dearest Comforters!
My Gestalt is ever enabled to grasp the world
As my waiting is equated to
A preparatory groundwork

For noble tasks
‘round the Earth
Soonest these shall commence.


[Writ. 14 Sept. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 32)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


There seems to be a force so strong
Which has me flowing in its currents:
It is a magnet catching a desire
As mine possesses: that of catching
For the offerings of Eros and Aphrodite
Or better still a gift from Artemis—
A lifetime soul companion whom my heart
May in the forest of jungles of urbanity
Occasion to discover. She the lovely
Apparition who in turn would choose me
As a truly beloved lover.

Heed then!
Heed then!

The call of Love to which I ought
Oblige in flight I’d finally harvest.

[Writ. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 31)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


Let me in this sojourn go on
Moving dynamically my hands, feet, body
In rhythmic cadence.

I am also an enthused dancer
Who talks or whispers in gyrating rhythms
Unto peoples who are sleeping
In beds of inaction.

Let them who will see m
Likewise fly high or stand up
And dance along too.
The rhythm is an alarm clock
That wakens
Hybernating multitudes.

Dance! Dance!
For the times that are forthcoming
Make no room for dormancy
The sleeper henceforth is a cadaver.


[Writ. 10 Sept. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 30)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


There faraway in the northern lands
Are my sibs, parents, next-of-kins
Spread all over in huge cities
Cities that are like sparkling beads
Of jade from a rosary,
Where they made flights ahead
In quest for milk and honey,
Honey and milk contained
In the lake of bountiness.

There they are waiting! Waiting! Waiting!
There they are praying! Devotionally praying!
Praying that my flight soon commences.

I shall see them soon
I the unexpected caller
Who knocks at noon.


[Writ. 10 Sept. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 29)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


Beacon, beacon from the sky
Knock upon my door so bold!
Now that I am enthusiastically waiting
In repose.

Come forth! Do come now!
Red lights of the traffic
Of the benign firmament.

My soul has been
Longing for this flight
Longing for the blessed pilgrimage.

My mecca’s doors may now
Be gleefully expecting for me.

[Writ. 09 Sept. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 28)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


Cross the boundaries
Of the vast fields of Knowledge.
Drink! Drink aplenty from the inexhaustible
Pool of Erudition!

The mind that is forever prepared
That which is decided to be
A chisel to carve out grandiose beauty
Out of blighted human commonwealths
Will never be seduced
By Ignorance
Whose villainous forces have
Erected quagmires that waylay
Unsuspecting victims.

Drink! Drink more from the inexhaustible
Pool of Erudition!
Your journey’s flight is about to make
Summons.

Knowledge makes every waylaid
Fetter by Ignorance
Impeccably passable.


[Writ. 07 Sept. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 27)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


O! Magnanimous Pathways of my flight
You are all so many and arduously long!

Please promise me, sweet journeytrails
That I shall find the elusive gifts
That have been offered to me
By cosmic engineers.

I shall stumble upon the hidden places
Upon the caves of treasures

That allow me the luxury to share
More endowments to my fellowmen.

Character, talents, abilities:
These are but specks of said gifts.
Filled am I enormously with gratitude
For having been licensed to possess them.
Yet more there are.

A puzzle shall be solved soon:
How can all men & women procure such riches.


[Writ. 05 Sept. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 26)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


Paalam!
Women of the Philippine isles!
Paalam!

You are so cherishingly warm.
I sense your warmth
Mirrored in your ever smiling faces.
Your assuring glances alone are sunny rays:
They melt away the ice of weariness
That have gathered in the bodies
Of visiting travelers and warriors.

You have awakened from slumber!
Wakened and strengthened enough to bury
The bottomless pits of injustice where history
Once left you forlorn as
Non-persons.

In flight
I’ll always remember what
You’ve counseled me:
Through you I will discover
The Woman gender of the world
Your awakenings have this me told

That every endeavored dream in the universe
Is markedly possible.


[Writ. 05 Sept. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 25)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


In locational spaces where audiences are focally
Packed as they watch live or video theatrics
I always pass by the peripheries
Unnoticed.

I am not wont to be a source
Of annoyance in such environs.
I am not.

I leave the place unescorted
With nary a departure message.

I shall in like vein taxi off toward
The azure sky without having
An orgiastic party of bienvenido crowd.

I need not capture attention to be
Noticed.


[Writ. 02 Sept. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 24)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


O! Streets of my urban den
I will leave you soon!

Dearest Streets we are the finest of bedfellows!
You who were made from
Asphalt Concrete Dirt Mud

Are the true historic pavement
That took care of tired feet
Of my brethren and sisters
We multitudes whose hearts
Were tempered to fight
For sincerest causes

We are creators of a new Parliament:
The Parliament of the Streets
In whose august halls we no longer experience
People’s resentments and aspirations muffled
By the terror batons of false tigers—
Of tyrants and self-deluding messiahs.

Farewell, benign Streets!

[Writ. 02 Sept. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 23)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago



My prime of youth, goodbye!

But ‘tis really no farewell.


Prime Youth, you’ve told me a tale

About my youth being so well spent

In rests and adventures

Inquiring and acting

Playing and growing up

Sadness and euphoria

Frustration and fulfillment


You’ve declared in writ:

Here was I consumed

In the Philippine isles!


But dearest Youth

You are the burning coal that runs

My bio-engine

Never allowing myself thus

To go weary in endless travails


You are the everlasting child who always

Responds in wonderment as its eyes

Behold nature’s and mankind’s

Manifold secrets.


Please make my Psyche

Your indestructible sanctuary

As much as you have no wish

To depart from me.



[Writ. 02 Sept. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 22)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago

I’ve been playing with

Guitars and keyboards


Whose soothing tunes linger

In my enthused Psyche

Their magical hymns render my weight

As light as feather.


So that I fly like unto airwaves

The numerous renditions unleash

The powerful anthems hidden

In Hyperspace.


Such anthems expand me: I Am

The Balloon whose edges have

Already

Reached

My journey’s

Sublime destinations.


Sensed, felt, touched the ground

Even before my feet have landed

On its first blessed flight.


[Writ. 02 Sept. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 21)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago

Farewell, kinsmen and women!

O! Sanguinal roots thou art as many

As the leaves clustered in the guava tree

Renowned are you who helped me

Sculpture my character.


I do obtain that your genetic founts

Are kaleidoscopic:

Malayan

Chinese

European

Northern ethnicities

Southern tribes

Rich gentry

Humble publicans

Moralists

Sinners.


I behold you all in wonderment.

Even as I fly my memories of you

Are more than those treasures

Deposited in bullion banks

Thou art my cargo of treasures.



[Writ. 01 Sept. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 20)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


Friends I’ve had aplenty
Enemies I’d none
Throughout my life courses.

Farewell, friends, farewell!
Your names are forever stored
In my memory banks floating
Always in the sphere of the conscious.

Friends! You’ve made possible
My Self’s first crawlings
As root of the Earth. Once
Rooted I’m enabled
To spread my branches
Outward to eagerly embrace
The Sky and Kosmos.

I’ll jettison skyward so soon
You’ve all inspired me to fly.
I’ll sojourn my destined path so soon
You are in my bosom enamored eternally.


[Writ. 31 Aug. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 19)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


Here in the Pearl of the Orient
I’ve met you all of Earth’s social types:
Pauper and wealthy merchant
Fisherfolk, peasant and gentry
Countryfolk, villager and highlander
Craftsman, workingman, magnate, banker
Prostitute, gangster and policeman
Bishop, priest, nun, monk, minister and sinner
Pedagogue, manager and white-collar man
Sailor, bus driver and flyboy
Clerk, bartender and pedlar
Soldier and rebel warrior
Politician, publican and rabble rouser
Idiot, artist, athlete, genius.

Luck-struck! I feel like a star!
An opportuned social alchemist ceaselessly immersed
In all social spaces
Transmuted henceforth!

Rendered flexibly immortal to live and lead
In all imaginable shapes and spheres.

I shall fly so soon.
Scattered are your seeds over
Earth’s living zones
You ramparts of the planet.

[Writ. 30 Aug. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 18)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


I do fly knowing that there are
In my cradle land
Even so on Earth’s nations
So many malevolent lords who desire to grab

Power through the Gun.
I declare that Peace is both
Chariot and Terminal sought in
Justice’s invocations strengthened
By ceaseless sincere dialogues—

The Chariots are they that do speak.
Even as the Gun speaks not
It enslaves without compunction
Ensnares its users
In traps of power blinders.

I shall fly
To witness a new
Eureka:

Mankind shall have made obsolete
The Crucible of War as any
Efficacious galvanizer of visions.

Only Peace makes benignly clear
The magnanimous pavement trailed
By noblest dreams.


[Writ. 29 Aug. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 17)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


Rice
Eastern viands
Sugar cane wine
Are served before me
As foods
My stomach gesticulate
By habituation
Prelude to flight.

I am well fed
Thanks to you Motherly providers
I starve not
Thanks to you cultivators of earth
I seek food never in vain.

To the globe’s underfed:
Woe not!
Should you move
In search
Of bounty
You shall reap it
Aplenty.

There are in your midst
Benign men and women
Who will pay your nourishing efforts
With promised abundance:
Your hopeful promise no less
Embedded in all hearts worldwide.

For what else is Kosmos other than
A pregnant fabricator of bountiness.

[Writ. , 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 16)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


I’ve chewed the savory news
That there beyond my cradle land
Are cities vastly large
Athenian and all
Where illustrious minds have stood the Earth
To reshape the world.
They are

Inventing the Future!
Inventing!—

Is this not a noblest act
Of making sense of borrowed time?
That of living on earth?

O! How I desire to be among them
Such blessed coteries of minds.

Let me fly to your sacred bowls
Endeared path-builders of the morrows.


[Writ. 27 Aug. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 15)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


Soon there will be a Space Hotel.
Soon there will be an Ocean Condominium.
Soon there will be Mars and Moon Colonies.
These are wondrous baskets
Of habitats
Engineered
By wealthy industrial Titans.

Yet Africa, Asia, Latin America
Are all sorely plagued by poverty.
It is a gigantic marshland of death
In the poorer worlds!

O! Duty!
You are the best among fellows.
You are the Bridge that fills
The gap betwixt the wealthy
And the paupers.

Duty you ought to be everyone’s baggage of plenty.
Though your weight
To each of your bearers
Is heavier than
Cheop’s pyramid.

Fly! Make haste
Upon the call of Duty!


[Writ. 26 Aug. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 14)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago

I am now staring at the Sky.
I am now glancing at the Ocean Floor.
I am now listening to the Wind’s melodious tunes.
I am now hanging by my Nests.
Penetrating the Sky,
Ocean Floor, Wind,
Is my

Unquenched thirst—
That moving Will perching
On my Nest,

Ready to offer me
To the magnanimous Hemispheres
Of grand Planet Earth.

Ready to plunge me down albeit softly
Right below to surface where Duty calls.
Duty catches me
With soft palms
Of generosity.

Gladden myself!


[Writ. 26 Aug. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 13)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


Sing to me!
O! Southwest and Northwest winds!
Sing your immortal soothing tunes
Inherited from Kosmos’ music.
Do enliven me
Keep me in tracks
O’ sober moods.

Blow strong your concert horns!
I shall gain strength from them
To fly high,

Fly high!

Higher than Tibet’s unequalled heights.
Such that
The vista
Of my waiting heavens
Are to my eyes
Transparent.


[Writ. 25 Aug.1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 12)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


I may get tired.
Not tired, but exhausted

Drink!
Drink!

From the Eternal Well
The one containing water
That strengthens the molded
Armaments, supreme Armaments
In my possessions:

Sharp Mind
To incise upon the world’s myriad
Secrets, and know increasingly
All enigmas;
Soft Heart
That which eschews pretensions
‘Tis welder of all fellowmen
Into benign bonds of Brotherhood.

And I shan’t get
Lost! Nor tired!

Nobody does
Whoever has drunk
From
Founts of Wisdom.


[Writ. 25 Aug. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 11)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


In flight I shall ascend with a body
As robust as the physique

Of Apollo
Dionysos
Bernardo Carpio

Sturdy godly frames
Are blazing flames!
They drive away pests
And illnesses: sordid demons
Parasites of Hades!

Indeed my body possesses
None such a duty as catching Dis-ease
Along the way.

Fly I shall!

[Writ. 24 Aug. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 10)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


Was I summoned to do jobs-so-high?
As a sentinel from the Sky?
A mobile warrior
Who shames and fears not
In bringing forth victories
For mankind’s
Enshrinement
In the glorious halls
Of Kosmos?

If so, then

Mankind!
You are my visible shield!

A shield that never dies
Is worthy of bigness
As colossal
As the universe’s entirety.

A-shielded let me then make
Flights!
Flights!
Upon the planet’s vast horizons
To pursue
What my soul
Has been in quest for.

[Writ. 23 Aug. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 9)

Earth, planet, East

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


Farewell!
Mighty Rio Grande de Cagayan
Lush Laguna de Bay
Fertile Sierra Madre.
And the whole of
The Pearl of the Orient
In your undying effulgence.

I shall fly
Upon the planet’s entirety.
‘Tis my home:
Planet Earth!

[Writ. 23 Aug. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT(Poem 8)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


I’ve been nestled in the branches
Of the pliant Bamboo.

I shall fly soon
To nestle upon

Redwoods
Cedars
Pines
Sequoias
Mapples
Cherries
African bushes.

Even as
My world view
Never loses touch
Of my other nest—

The Coconut that embellishes verdance
Upon the benign Tropics
Never thus fledgeling
In its noble task to nourish

As it was suckled
By Mother Earth.


[Writ. 23 Aug. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 7)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago

Yesterday I quipped:
I’ve been walking
On the face of the Earth.

I am sturdier now than ever.

Enough to shift gears
To fly! Fly high!

And assert the truth
That man’s being

Planet-wide
Is not barren
Not barren!

That Being arises
Shining even beyond
Gold’s luster
Shining to

Advance! Advance
Man’s place

In the kosmic order.
Man shall be.

[Writ. 22Aug. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN फ्लिघ्त (Poem 6)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago

I shall cross the oceans soon.

I shall bear the basking

Powers of the rain and moisture

Along the cruise

My inner self

Shall be cleansed.

I shall soar high to catch

The warm photons of the Sun

I shall then be assured

Of bright tomorrows.

My spirit will be endowed with boon

As I cross the oceans soon!

As I

Shall cross the oceans,

Cross the oceans

Soon! I

Shall!

[Writ. 22 Aug. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 5)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


Today the world pulsates
With the vibrance
Of a new epoch birthing

A fresh history
Phantom of delight
In all its similitudes!

Even then the Evils grow
They seek to make dirt
To all signs of human grandeur
Evils whose satiation ends not
Till all men and women
Are slaughtered by

The Bomb!
The Bomb!

Let me make haste
That my eyes
And whole person
May sense the vibrating new world
That is struggling to surface
From its mother’s womb.

[Writ. 22 Aug. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 4)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


Dash yourself
In flights of pilgrimages
O! eager pilgrim!

To which will you pay homage to?
Which mystical mountain?
Which golden crag?
Which sanctified image?
Which enigma worth respect?

Hearts of all
The planet’s peoples:
These are the most precious of all
Objects of desire
Of one who ought
To share service

Pilgrim’s homage indeed.


[Writ. 21 Aug. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 3)

Bro. Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


I’ve talked to my Wings
To spread themselves and span me
Upon marvelous lands that stretch
Beyond my cradle land.

They are the Wings of a conquering Eagle
Yet an Eagle with a Dove’s heart
Whose battles
Are drawn against diabolical enemies—
Poverty, fear, ignorance, dogma;

Foes that threaten to despoil
The glory of man.

Set forth in flight!

[Writ. 21 Aug. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 2)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


What do I lament
That I now render myself
Towards flights
O’er the planet’s fertile bowls?

Planet Earth! Why
In my cradle land
Leave me in severity

(Of) existential asphyxiation?—
‘Tis no desire of any bird
Nay of any eagle alive!

For a bird is made
To fly!

To fly!
And grasp the magnificence
Of the world
That is
Upon its eyes
A living carnival.


[Writ. 20 Aug. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]

IN FLIGHT (Poem 1)

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


I shall leave my cradle land soon.

I shall follow the path
Of a flight I’ll obtain
A blessed flight
Into the planet’s centers
Grandiose corners.

Let me depart!
I ought to pursue
What my heart
Has sought for.

Release!
Release!

The self that aspires
To make homes
Amongst peoples
Of the planet.


[Writ. 19 Aug. 1987, Univ. of the Philippines, Quezon City, M.Manila.]