376.
The 3 Races
There were 3 great islands in the Orient
Millennia ago, 3 Races here God sent…
First among them were the Negritos
From farthest lands came with bare toes
Second were folks known as the Indones
From not so far they journeyed less
Third were people we know as the Malays
From neighboring nation riding balangays
…And so the 3 Races thrived & multiplied
Establishing a society that made us civilized!
-09/10/2015
(Dumarao)
*Philippine History Rhyme Collection
Hey, let’s go to the moon
Opportunity will be departing soon
Count is descending down
Orbit will be bound
Hear the roaring engines sound
Amazing adventure maybe found
Playing lunar,’ ring around’
Shooting off into the night’s air
Like a candlelight flare
Nothing can compare
Accepting this trusting dare
Lasting ten days
Going both ways
Checking neighboring planet’s backside
During the fly
Bye
Without a tourist guide
Bringing home souvenir data and results
Empowered using many energy volts
Time to take the darken path
And invade the heavenly wrath
Hiking a darken road
Being very bold
Artemus two mission easily sold
We have been told
Sun agreed wearing blinging gold
Shining bright
Heating our exploring knights
With illuminating light
Assisting them in this successful flight
In the final moments of the cosmic rapture,
when the armada of flames subsided,
there stood the last defiance against Father Time.
A treacherous sea, beautiful and terrible as the dawn.
No solid surface, a ghost of the cosmos.
Internal pressure, yielding storms of diamonds.
A cold-hearted sentinel.
Restless, yet stubborn.
No sister planets,
no neighboring galaxies.
Only cruel immortality.
So, you have chosen to endure.
This eternal silence, this tomb of stardust and ash.
You shall suffer in silence.
What glorious purpose awaits you, O’ Neptune?
Insolent child, how dare you defy fate.
You should’ve let yourself fall quietly asleep.
Yet, in this forever blackness,
what poor, pitiful orbit do you take—
to justify this act of providence?
A bright afternoon lunch, a darker shadow wraps around
your leg. Not clawing, just yawning. Yearning for a twitch
in its way.
You sit terribly still.
Your mother urges you to shoo it off, your father chews
absentmindedly at the way too bloodied meat, gazing through
your forehead. The clinks of the neighboring tables annoyingly
in sync. Your foot turns to face it.
The waiter gets your sister's order wrong, she curls up to a ball
as so does her stomach as she pipes down the vanilla milkshake,
an excuse to leave to the bathroom. To leave here.
The edge of your eyes catches the figure 8 being woven
along your cramping shins.
The heavy grimace of your brother, your mother fixing up
his collar, clearly not ironed. The setting bores you,
you look under. Beady eyes staring at you too. A plea
for what you should do.
The sinful act of feeding a noir stray cat.
With the steady grip of a football player, a knowing smirk
a bright eye glint, you hold it close,
the pitch-dark abomination–
and toss it onto the table.
An approving purr.
A feast for all.
Before the Breath admitted—
We dwelt—in Neighboring Mist—
A Corridor of Quiet—
By Seraph—sometimes Kissed—
No Clock—presumed—to tally—
No Noon—to be—declared—
The Light—was but a Whisper—
That would not say—we erred—
We lingered—in a Silence—
That had no Need—of Name—
A gentle—Pre-existence—
Too delicate—for Flame—
The Souls—like folded Letters—
Awaited—Earthly Hands—
To open—what was written—
In unremembered Sands—
And I—perhaps among them—
Sat—Docile—in the Air—
Until the World—requested—
My small—appointment—here—
Thus—when the Cradle called Me—
I rose—from Ether’s Home—
Exiting—an endless Chamber—
To find—a Mortal—Home—
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our garage door's gap looked mighty fine
to Randy the mouse from the neighboring vine.
"My very own Airbnb!" squeaked he.
"But only one star,” he said to the nearby flea
Left a scathing Yelp review: "Needs less sunshine."
One couple of days, a young man named Lawrence,
Met an old hag of the neighboring village named Florence.
Lawrence was dumb and Florence, lame
His question- “Will you marry me,” in Florence, lit love’s flame.
She danced on her toes like a beautiful ballerina.
She looked so majestic like the Greek goddess Athena.
After marriage, for honeymoon, they flew to Uranus.
They both looked like two goblins in moon’s luminance.
The island once was a sweet emerald blessing
with a chorus of sugar and spice atop salty sea breeze.
A stowaway soon arrived on the scene...
A brown snake with a smile of poisonous sheen.
At first it sang a duet with the pips and the peeps
but it is deaf and only exists to distract and deceive.
Soon after, the chorus had become quite extinct.
No more sugar and spice atop salty sea breeze.
The brown serpentine is staring at the horizon.
Flicking a frantic fork at the neighboring islands.
ANGIE Tuesday kept singing
You are UNDER MY THUMB
YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT
Her sister RUBY TUESDAY
Tended to WILD HORSES
With three HONKY TONK WOMEN
It was a normal morning
Until Bill, better known
TUMBLIN DICE rode home at speed
Bill had rode with a great news-
The ROLLING STONES band was
visiting Neighboring town
All folks rushed out and out
Town was empty in jiffy
Like someone had PAINT IT BLACK
Bill chuckled, rested real nice
For once in all calmness
Without Angie or her song
we thought Trump would bring peace
his solution is to expulse the Palestine people
into neighboring countries, it is madness
To take Gaza and turn it into a resort for the rich
and hand it over to Israel
Shall we witness this tragedy in silence?
The Middle East
When the persecuted became persecutors
chaos followed; what a mess the Middle East is
Both sides of the conflict like killing one other
up pops more fanatics with eager knives
If you are an Arab Christian, your life is short
if you are a Muslim, they will give you the key
to London and the neighboring locals
Is there such a being as a Christian Jew?
There are Orthodox Jews, men with braided
hair, wearing black hats and dark suits
round glasses make them look scholarly
Their women stay in the background when
on their back, giving birth to yet another
anti-war Jew
In Syria, Assad has fled, prisons are emptying
people are jubilant, but hang on, prisons will
be full again of the new regime's enemies
I read, but can it be true, that the Saudis are the Jews
of antiquity; one can say they love money
and kill their opponents, whether in an embassy
or in a café eating lamb chops
In the meantime, we ask ourselves, will Syria be
Afghanistan, where women get beaten for showing
not a leg, but a pale face of suffering
All is not lost,
the Syrians in Sweden and Germany
are heading back to their homeland
For S and G, a burden lifted
The whole of Eastern Samar
Is commemorating its historic
Battle joined by local patriots
Of Balangiga and neighboring towns
On September 28 1901, the only battle won
By fighting Filipinos against the Americans
That we call now the Balangiga Encounter of1901
This heroic act in that part of Samar
Placed the Balangiganons and the Waray townspeople
In the realm of historic significance
All for independence and democracy
The final return of the Balangiga Bells
Brought in a global laurel to this very remote town
That has now stood more prouder yet humble
For the ultimate sacrifice by their forebears
For love of country and people.
autumnal colors
close neighboring planet skies
equinox sunsets
red hue leaves tussle
woodchuck pops from its burrow
dog sniff, yelps in pain
quiver across limbs
perching mockingbird's mimic
nightly shooting stars
9/18/2024
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.
three faeries with beautifully veined transparent wings arrived at midnight
Not unlike Pan who had been there before, they brought happiness light.
Their mission was to add some levity and joy to the current night life
I sneaked up on them in silence, feeling more voyeur than young wife.
Silent in the deep weeds, I watched the three faeries frolic and play in fun.
If I made a loud song, they would be gone way before the returning sun.
At three a.m. I sneezed, and the entire faerie brigade stood perfectly still.
“Come on out!” one demanded, staring at the neighboring hill.
Out came a dragon, a buzzard, two raccoons, a squirrel, a frog and a fish.
The fish was in a bowl, being carried by the raccoons, as if a delicate dish.
We will teach you some dance moves, the faerie queen said, “okay?”
More was going on, but a the sandman in a dream whisked me away.
I know what I saw, I am not wrong about that.
I still see these three faeries, at the drop of a hat.
Sometimes I sneak out at midnight to try to glimpse them again.
So far, I have come up empty, but some day, it will be a win.
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