Monday, October 8, 2012

SPEAK O! FELICITOUS LADY!

SPEAK O! FELICITOUS LADY!

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago



Speak to me, dear Friend!
Are you a ghost—a ghost of Light—
That smashes the granite rocks of masks
I’ve upon myself built with esteem’s cement?
Speak! Lady chronicler of the inner theatres!
Behold! We need no longer pass along
This world’s tortuous roads as our monads fuse—
Yours and mine, mine and yours.
Regain shall I my own pure unbesmirched
Halo of intelligence and will and aspiration:
You are the sacred moment that fertilizes
Again like unto growing buds of verdant lores
This sanctified shadow of my inner theatre.
Speak! Lady of the free spirits!
Quench my thirst for tales of delight!
You are the tale, the bringer of delight,
The ultimate acting being in the Thespian stage.
Receive my swearword: I offer
To you the wakened ghost of mine, once more
To amplify your limitless experiencing of the magic
In the world of humans; my words, planted and grown


[Writ. 19 November 1988, Proj. 8, Quezon City, M.Manila]

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

THY WILL BE DONE

THY WILL BE DONE

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


Whenever the day starts I knock
Upon the doors of Life to request extensions
Of my lease to exist. Not that I
Will be merry forever notwithstanding fears
Tensions and anxieties that arise
In my here-and-now; I’m simply unsure
Of what may be up for me. Well, Life
Responded as always—cheerful, lighthearted,
Contagiously optimistic. I’d catch its air
Of glittering hope, daunting spirit,
Its elan of all elan. The I’d say too,
“Life, please do share unto others what you’re
Offered to me.” “Thy will be done” said Life.
Thy will be done. Done will be
Hope’s cremation of every unwanted carcass
Of Obscurity: faith in self regained.


[Writ. 21 October 1988, Proj. 8, Quezon City, M.Manila]

Saturday, September 29, 2012

MORNING RHYTHM

MORNING RHYTHM

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago

Silence breaks
Morning mist
Meets the day anew in sweet embrace
Birds aflight
Cats shall rest
As the sun erases evening’s haze.
Buses roll
Flies a-swarm
Off abound they’re freed from bottle’s cork.
Grandpas sneer
Dads consume
Coffee and news pages before work.
Crackers crack
Mobiles whine
Hospitals’ own occupants balloon.
Traffic grows
Roads go blocked
Terrified policeman act like goon.
Planes arrive
Flyers rest
Peddlers sell their wares with lemonade.
Bags prepared
Pockets swing
Joy’s corrupt official’s mood in trade.


[Writ. 19 October 1988, Proj. 8, Quezon City, M.Manila]

Friday, September 28, 2012

WHEN DEMOCRACY COMES

WHEN DEMOCRACY COMES

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago

Land of ours! You’re bent on reminding
Us anew: that our Sentinels again
Will rob us clear of our well-earned
Civil rights and arrogate for themselves
All powers of government.
So what? Yes, so what?
Will democracy become so weary
As to naively recline upon coal embers
That are our Sentinels’ hearts?
Has democracy anyway flowered
Into full bloom in your soil as to assure
Your history’s place in the citadels
Of human grandeur?

Land of ours! Relay these utterances
To the vanguards of treachery:
Democracy is verily like a fruit
That has ripened in the beings
Of the workingmen in shops and farms:
A dazzling show twill manifest
As it finally blooms to maturity
And edifices of fascistic greed twill
Burn down to remain as ashes forever
A signal to all humanity of your
Patriots’ repute as victors and
You: a bastion of freedom bearers.


[Writ. 13 October 1988, Proj. 8, Quezon City, M.Manila]



Thursday, September 20, 2012

DON’T SLEEP TONIGHT O! CITY LIGHTS!

DON’T SLEEP TONIGHT O! CITY LIGHTS!

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


May the glowing lights at night
Not stop at all for rest or sleeps.

Beware! Beware!
Snakes are bound to strike
When patriots of most noble faith
Sense slimmest the hordes of traitors;
Sentinels we’ve long trusted
May ride astride lightning bolt
To incinerate our dens of freedom
And leave the lores of democracy
To the nothingness of decay.
Tyranny is ripe once more, a fruit
The would-be autocrats savor the best.

O! City lights!
Please don’t sleep at night!


[Writ. 13 October 1988, Proj. 8, Quezon City, M.Manila]



RADIO’S MALAISE

RADIO’S MALAISE

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


Radio should be a gentle mentor
whose teachings we take as our own
as we cherish each fact and fable
that it offers us canned lessons;

but Radio is consumed up
by its seeking for money and profits
as every sound that it releases
makes us believe that we are in New York
or London or elsewhere other than Filipinas.
Alien sounds can only nurture best
the filthiest image of our national stature.


[Writ. 07 October 1988, Proj. 8, Quezon City, M.Manila]

THE SUN OUR KIN

THE SUN OUR KIN

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


It’s true the Sun will lay to rest
On the day’s end after his toil
And give way to the nighttime hours
When ravagers despoil amid our slumbers
But sure enough the morning comes
And Sun radiates our Land anew
Each smile he sports enervates our longings
For better times of wealth and wellbeing
He never tires to shed us rays of care
He never retreats without sharing heraldries
Of what our strivings will bring forth
A sturdier and well esteemed commonwealth
He shall ever be there when we need him
A kin indeed our light of liberty


[Writ. 07 October 1988, Proj. 8, Quezon City, M.Manila]

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

WHY MOTHERLAND?

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]






LOVE’S MURMUR

LOVE’S MURMUR

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


I hear the murmur of love
Like rattles of tree branches.
It is coming, marching triumphantly
On the ground of eternal merriment.
It seizes me, bless of my wishes,
It its delightful gallows of wonderment.
It’s message clear—“Heed my call!”
To my woman ‘tis selflessly shared.


[Writ. 24 July 1988, Proj. 8, Quezon City, M.Manila]

Sunday, August 19, 2012

SENTIMENTS FROM EROS

SENTIMENTS FROM EROS

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


Sentiments from Eros’ royal house
Here it lies within my being.
A chasm it shall try to bridge
And warm up your cold heart a-glow.
It will grow, it will merge
From the shadows of the iceberg’s underneath.
It will seek its proper moorings
In your heart it is wont
To nestle; only in your heart or nevermore.

[Writ. 24 July 1988, Proj. 8, Quezon City, M.Manila.]


Sunday, August 12, 2012

WISH SHE COMES O! COCONUT TREE!

WISH SHE COMES O! COCONUT TREE!

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago



Wish for me O! Coconut Tree!
Of benign Filipinas that She comes in beauty
Her luggage filled to the brims

With love and tenderness. Let her caress
My longing heart. I shall meet her
Under your secure shade O! Coconut Tree!

Where we shall pledge the vow
Of eternal sharing of trust and care;
A bnd you’ll judge with favors
One stroke like a million devoted caretakers’.


[Writ. 19 June 1988, Proj. 8, Quezon City, M.Manila]

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

JUAN’S NIGHTMARE

JUAN’S NIGHTMARE

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


Sleeping while inner rage brews
Inside one’s cognitive vat does not make
A sleep the fulfillment of a day’s toil.
Not for Juan the unlettered and dispossessed
Whose wretchedness is a correlate of wealth
Amassed by his other brothers whose
Purses and stocks do bulge ad infinitum.
Not for Juan. Reserved inner rage
Sooner unfolds into a thousand nightmares:
Spoiled is the timeless joy of dream’s utopia.


[Writ. 19 June 1988, Proj. 8, Quezon City, M.Manila]



Saturday, August 4, 2012

FAREWELL TO A DECEASED KIN

FAREWELL TO A DECEASED KIN

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago

 
History is Judge and Witness
to the truth that my heart is ne’er
A nest of
Resentment

for you o! deceased kin
You were never a
Creator of terror and trouble

nor villain are you for the anguish
you’d upon me outpoured from time to time

No resentment!
Be in peace as the Dove that is now
your fulfilled state.

Farewell!


[Writ. 11 June 1988, Proj. 8, Quezon City, M.Manila]



Thursday, July 26, 2012

CADAVER’S BIOGRAPHY

CADAVER’S BIOGRAPHY

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


vermin upon vermin gather in mounds
undistinguished from the morsel
felled by it’s ego’s date with Grim Ripper

25, 50, 100, etc
are found without names in named or unnamed
cemeteries

uncelebrated figures
are puzzles that are delightful to civil
libertarians’ appetites for enigmas

--shadows without tales
or felled bodies do have sagas of pain
or joy unaffected by the Roman slaughter
of holy and unholy souls on Golgotha’s foot


[Writ. 11 June 1988, Proj. 8, Quezon City, M.Manila]

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

MARSHES OF CANDABA

MARSHES OF CANDABA

 Erle Argonza y Delago


When hawks and other living flyers
Set foot on swampy fields for feeding
Tis a marvelous sight that glows the eyes
As mark of platonic appreciation

Where muddy waters used to fill
The air with constant foul-smelling vapors
And gift the neighboring men and women
With malaria and ailments and more
And leave no space that’s fertile enough
For crops and edible greens
And there vehicles run agog
When torrents bring oceanic floods
No more is this worthy of anyone’s esteem
Than to ignore it for its fecal state

Melons and fruits and rice now abound
In this once noxious forbidden land
No more is Hope rekindled the better
Than on the marshes of Candaba

Fly! Fly! Beloved Eagle to the peasant’s nest!
And laud him with your hymns of joy
For his victorious heartwarming travails on swamps
Indeed make him a true human champion.


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


Saturday, July 14, 2012

POLICEMAN

POLICEMAN

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago


Policeman! Throngs of multitudes are
Waiting for your return to civility!

On account of the erosion of your image
As a reliable enforcer of statutes
By your recalcitrant engagements in
Extortions and rackets and every condemnable
Act that are well perceived by the periscopic oculars
Of the consummate public;

Come home, policeman! Come home
To the moral niche of civility!

For to extract money from laboring motorists
Traders and pedlars who may no more
Be better than the poorest fellows
Of yours whose every cent that you
Embezzle will accrue to the rupture
Of the noblest dignity;

Come home, policeman! Come home
To the powerhouse of civility!

For to bust striking workingment or to
Train guns on dissenting marchers or to
Equate to criminal acts those that are
Worthy of appreciation as they are
Motivated by desires for justice
Will cost you your sweet acceptance
By the same people whom you ought to protect;

Come home, policeman! Come home to
The sanctuary of civility!

People are surely waiting for you
Not excluding the gunslinging predators
Who are out to snatch your life
For your treachery and malevolence.

[Writ. 06 June, AUF, Angeles City, Pampanga]





Thursday, July 5, 2012

WHEN YOU NEED A NEWS REPORT


WHEN YOU NEED A NEWS REPORT

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago

If you’ve gone through a commotion
Or an accident of sorts
And you feel the urge to summon
Newsreporters to the scripts

Ah! Don’t ever waste your sweat
On thick layered phone directories
To call on foreign newsmen to the fore
For these souls today are hounded
On cryptic suspicions of support
They give to rebels on the hills

You might as well call up the hounders
Who are craftsmen of psywar ars
Who don’t matter if 1,000 differs from 10,000
Or whether Mr X didn’t or did commit Action Y
For as long as reports serve the purpose
Of fueling more wars and battle gores
And inflate the raison d’etre
Of brave regimentation and war mania


[Writ. 06 June 1988, AUF, Angeles City, Pampanga]



SIMPLE WORDS


SIMPLE WORDS

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago

In every production of my pen
Of full narrative or poem
I’m compelled to write in simple
Words that folks could comprehend

It’s no joke to dazzle minds
With jargons and magical words
For just like magic on a wand’s stroke
Will make the denouement outpace
The cognition of the enthusiastic viewer
Will only obscure the thought presented
And leave the consciousness dangling
On rotten vines of superstition and illusion

For I’m supposed to offer
Lines that shatter false images
It’s so that every undertaking
Of thinking and imagining
Will irradiate the knowing viewer
With rays of clarity and concreteness


[Writ. 06 June 1988, Angeles City, Pampanga, on a visit to the Angeles University Foundation.]

Monday, June 25, 2012

STA. ANA


STA. ANA

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago

Cranes atop carabaos at work
Amid endless sights of rice fields
That merge with the mountains on their brims
Where thick canopies of trees add color
To the green canvass of the picturesque scenery
Here are the trademarks of the path
To Sta. Ana the forthcoming legend.

Reached by land from arterial roads
Where the traveler’s exhaustion is gaily relieved
By the vista of the cool blue sea
A limitless basin aplenty
With marine basics and exotics.

Soon there shall rise an industrial
Enclave whose merchandise will be sold
To foreign lands and peoples.

Fisherfolk, planters and workingmen meet
There in an unintended league
To realize that beauteous and bountiful
Nature and profitable shops & foundries
Can’t at all conceal miserly living.


[Writ. 05 June 1988, Proj. 8, Quezon City, M.Manila]



Wednesday, June 20, 2012

CORDILLERA BEGGARS?


CORDILLERA BEGGARS?

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago

O! Beloved people of Cordillera!
Please lend me true reasons
For the fact that some members
Of your proud majestic land
Now belong to beggars’ armies
In the Manila Metropolis?

I know too well that your grand mountains
Are abodes of immense wealth and lores
Of a sturdy people that has never
Been conquered nor has starved
Not the strong and tireless highlander
Who never disdains sweaty labor
And sublime service even as bountiful harvests
Are perpetually reaped for family and clan
And offered at the altar of Bathala.

Is it the handiwork of Plunder
Now magnified by the clockwork of War?
If twere so can you be extricated
From Plunderers’ predatory claws?

O! Please answer my query for you too
Are to me a noble teacher of life.


[Writ. 05 June 1988, Proj. 8, Quezon City, M.Manila]