WHY MOTHERLAND?

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


Why ought we call Motherland
The cradle of us loyal citizens?
Why not just call it Land
For the sake of propriety and brevity?
Likewise we shan’t label Fatherland
Each lustrous land of alien conquerors
Who enslaved our forbears in servitude
Over epochs of lamentable tribulations.

A Mother is she who never dares forsake
Her children whom she lovingly nourishes.
And yet all children grow to bid farewell
To the hardships of infantile life
And so to bid farewell as well
To the Mother who soon faces retirement.

Habits of old are hard to die
Like thoughts on Motherland or Fatherland
Even as we’re not overgrown infants
Of a country that professes eternal Motherhood
And neither could we all say farewell
To our benign Land: our Provider.


[Writ. 06 October 1988, Proj. 8, Quezon City, M.Manila]