AID, MORE AID!

AID, MORE AID!

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago

Why pump the lifeblood

Of poor nations with Aid

From modern Titans?

This Aid’s a footstool of Ceasar.

‘Tis nothing but cancer that encroaches

Upon the weak body of the recipient:

Eroded are the remaining vestiges

Of moral strength for the Poor’s will

To rise from the maelstrom of wretchedness;

‘Tis the fattest of parasites

That rapidly saps all nourishment

From the Poor’s ulcerated belly;

‘Tis an aromatic essence

That later reveals its baneful powers

To asphyxiate the struggling breather

Towards Hamlet sleep.

For by now victims ought to recognize

When abominable vampires strike;

Blood loss in such sucking vein is much too different

From blood gained from an altruistic donor.

[Writ. 04 June 1988, Proj. 8, Quezon City, M.Manila.]