Across the desert’s quiet glow,
where dunes meet towers of steel and light,
stands a Filipino teacher—
lesson plans in hand, homeland in heart,
bridging islands to the Gulf.
In the classroom, lessons breathe
beyond numbers, dates, and rules.
They carry bayanihan in their gestures,
malasakit in every patient pause,
and paggalang spoken softly
through acts more than words.
Maps on the wall show seas apart,
Yet stories close the distance—
of fiestas colored by faith and song,
of elders honored in every greeting,
of a homeland shaped by resilience
and hope that refuses to bend.
In Qatar’s embrace of many nations,
the teacher becomes a gentle bearer of roots,
weaving Filipino values into global minds,
teaching that culture is not confined to borders
but lives wherever it is practiced with pride.
Each day ends not just with dismissal bells,
but with seeds planted—
of identity remembered,
of traditions passed on,
of a nation alive in service.
Thus, the Filipino teacher teaches twice:
once for the lesson on the board,
and again for the culture in the heart—
a quiet ambassador of the Philippines,
standing firm beneath a foreign sky.
From ashes of pain, true leaders rise,
Forged in struggle’s unyielding cries.
Yet now, from gilded thrones of greed,
False prophets spawn, with lies they breed.
They weave deceit, a cunning art,
To hijack souls and rend the heart.
Using hired blades and looted dimes,
They buy men to side their evil dreams
Behind a flag, their falsehoods creep,
While nation bleeds and victims weep.
they wear a tearful mask in public to trap
They toast with scorn still pretend saints ,
They preach of pride, to draw borders red,
holding nationalism drawing swords ,
With gods they raise divisive flags,
demanding more blood for their political zigzags.
Their minions sow yet viler lies,
To reap the votes that death devise.
As tears cascade through broken towns,
They laugh on stages holding cruel schemes.
This basic wish
Is the wish of every mother and child
The wish for things to be safe and fun
For everyone to smile
And not push and shove, yell and fight.
It’s the wish that drives them like sheep
Into the beautiful green pastures over there
Just beyond the bounds, always
Just out of reach.
It’s the wish to unite
Form a one world government or religion
Or circle to sing kumbaya
To hold us all together
Keep us safe in the night
And fed in the morning.
It’s also the wishful dream that fades
When Sun rises on another day
And it’s time to once again
Simply care
For all things we need to do
The bitter and the sweet
Made better by the fact
Adversity builds something
Nothing else can.
(11/22/24)
Assuming no war we fought
to name our country
Nigeria is no war we
fought to know how tis perhaps let say all the wall is
frosty.
If tis monger or thirst
why not bother the hoi or at least the mealy bug
in the farm or the flag not irrgla?.
If tis jokes or riddles
why not wish to keep up with the fun
or perhaps carry on adventures
towards great tomorrow O comrades!, towards great
tomorrow O comrades!, towards great tomorrow O
comrades!, towards great tomorrow O comrades!,
towards great tomorrow O comrades?.
I wish to neighbor the some of the worlds,
yes, neighboring them in the morning and afternoon
and evening air
and when night brought her blanket towards tomorrow.
When personal narcissism
and tribal autism
choose our words
as hurting
threatening
weapons of trauma defense
Rather than choosing wealth
of healing win/win tools
for compassion's therapeutic
mind/body unfence
We soon find
that no one cares
to impatiently listen
outside our partisan walls
For whatever future mindful kindness
and EarthBody forgiveness
we cannot trust
will win/win
wealth/health last.
Mistaking side by side pluralism
for more resonant
co-infested polyculturalism
Is like mistaking chaotic divisions
for resilient organic complexity,
integral multiplicity
Like only perceiving competitive dissonance
and degenerative
confusion
while missing inside resonant light
regenerating
cooperative mind/body
health/wealth consciousness
Free from win/lose
lack-of-capital-driven anxiety,
Free toward win/win
co-invested anticipation
Dipolar co-arising hope
Left/Right
UpMight/DownTight
root-budding Yang/Yintegral
bilateral balance
Resonantly resilient Way
as a round wombed ch'i
polypathic pole
Holonic joy
of sacred unscared
unscorched Earth
Tribes timeless
unboundaried
win/win paradise,
co-invested bipartisan peace
Warm wombed
multicultural embrace
restoring grace
in some nonviolent inclusive
ecofeminist wombed
fertile green sung
blues danced
LeftHere-RightNow
resonantly resilient
amusing
sacred communion place
Body space
in timeless peaks
of co-infested Yang/Yin
space/time bilateral balancing Way,
EarthTribe universal/unitarian.
1
Since 1983, I spent each year
With her, or reasonably near
O to think I once was young, in love
With U (USA) running from African woe
That apartheid in South Africa
Yet I hadn't planned to leave her
I'd visit a month or two, less than a year
Even when I worked (one in Mandela's time,
A deputy director in their State Dept.)
But now, I've missed America much
Four years soon, another home
Albeit for a cause (Great Commission)
How i wish I'd not obeyed "religion"
2
Without you, Sundays are free
I have no religious duty or Assembly
I have little to look forward to
But loving U was stressing me also
I made an healthy choice, the break
Now to live -- hour by hour, by the minute
Here and now, though memories rising like Jesus
Reveal addiction to nationalism.
Romulus? Remus?
FROM A COMMENT TO ONE OF MY GOOD READERS/ Soupers:
"It's a blessing to have known Jesus through one's parents. I was 30 when I began to take Jesus seriously ("an acquired taste," for a Hindu nationalist). It's NATIONALISM - of whatever kind - THAT IS CAUSING WARS, not God/Jesus. Study wars & it's civil & uncivil causes will be connected with "ethnos" or ETHNOI, a la Russia & Ukraine, just for a current example of similar peoples fighting for their identities (and ego). They probably worship the same LORD and belong to similar denominations, would be my guess. Yes, material resources may be at stake, but if that CAUSE is paramount then you agree with the Marxists who believe only material/economic factors determine our humanity and behaviours.
shalom, shalom
I
My two daughters love Two States
Two ways, at least
They love Maryland & Virginia
They love English and Spanish
They love their dad and Mom
They love Democrat & Republican as American
They know the Constitution didn't make Parties
They Know G. Washington warned Parties
Divide anation, when electing should take best 'man'
For the job he refused to Name "king" - but Mr. President
II
My daughters proudly thank, work for America
We can't say much, dear patriots, freedom lovers
But they do data mining, sub-contracting for Feds
I have seen some AWARDS, we sleep well
And Jesus gives us a clean conscience as we 'talk'
'US Constitution,' "freedoms," national & global citizenship
About academic freedom
III
Those who "jingo" about nationalism, what
will you tell Jesus who reminded us:
You are a citizen of heaven, not of this world?
( Reference: Paul's epistles, and Peters Letters in the New Testament." We are not one-dimensional
"Americans" - but as with "hats" as a member
Of biological families: know all the roles u play!
I
At home with Shankara & Ramanuja
As with Spinoza, Kant, and Buber
Seventy years on earth, to 1950, heir
To Thought of East, West, 'Father Nature'
Fought for Independent India, from 'Raj'
Taught we must do spiritual evolution
Community and nation are a good start
But dissolve they must, peace past nationalism
Separation is overcome by One Identity
II
Sri Aurobindo could use Brahman, Lila, and Supermind as with Heraclitus' Logos, and yet see "solidarity ... and mutability" as the great future, based on individual consciousness that evolves with supramental download s
In 1897 Theodr HERZL created the Zionist Movement, but his great work helped create the State of Israel in 1948. Where is the State of Zion? Perhaps he meant the Israelist Movement rather than Zionist?
Long before USA and revisionism were born, the Prophet Nehemiah - in exile with The Chosen people in Persia - dreamed and worked for RETURN to, and REBUILDING of, the Walls of the TEMPLE in Zion:
"The King [of Iran/Persia] said to me, 'What is it you want?' Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the King, "if it pleases the king and if your servant has found favour in his sight, let him send me to the city in JUDAH where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it."
READ, THINK, Write on after steps 1 and 2, even condemn me (PS fave sport)
I
Don't groan, I avoid hating -
Nazi Germany used 'National Socialist'
To give the lie to nationalism
And to God of all ethnoi, Jew and Gentile
But moans & groans turn to labeling
(Thinkers as Anti-Semite, even if Semitic)
Or friends of all nations, Jew & Gentile
II
You see what wrong?
I can only agree with givernments -
Or get called names, da#nn any brains:
I will be ostracized
Cast both as Nazi and Anti semite
If I say the government of Israel
Ought to have used, Judea or Judah!
The Samaritan's are still here (Nablus,
In the occupied West Bank, old Neapolis)
But Israelis rarely accept them as Jews
John chapter 4 is alive. So is Shechem!
III
When you have been a victim, or hurt
You will fly a flag higher than the cross
The cross and temple must raise flags
Must raise money, help solve problems-
But the 'church' today has no state
Or equal rights with the Flag
That's why nationalism is an ISM:
Ask Vlad Putin and the heores of USSR
Once a nation
Supremely white as driven snow,
Singularly Christian, white and male,
Purely untarnished, and aglow,
Grandeur unparalleled in fairytale.
Hence a grievance
Punitively bold as bloody hellfire,
Potently prosecuted in seats of power,
Oppressively waged against objects of ire,
Prisms of nonwhites seeking justice in the hour.
Now a leader
Colossally void as sterilized weaponry,
Glibly sanctions white phobia and rage,
Lethally enflames this proto-fascist fancy,
As corporations provide aid to the rampage.
Thus a faction
Devoutly for leader, they stand down,
Steadfastly ready for the order to kill,
All woke-ish elitists, and enemies black and brown,
That white men reclaim their rightful place at the till.
Violence of mind
Shocks no one in America,
Where thugs are part of romantic lore.
With our ascendant authoritarian replica,
Are we ready for what washes ashore?
Published in Dissident Voice: 01/09/22
I love Nigeria but it is a secret.
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