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]