A Dirge of the Pasig River

"Mother, let me die, there's no more sense of living, for I do not belong to humans anymore, I swear; I'm no longer a part of creation, I'm but a stranger... "

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Death of an estero (tributary), the result of unabated pollution and siltation. 
Pasig River, Pasay City MM. Photo by Mary Kathleen Manalastas

I am dying, Mother, my mother whose womb was

     as virgin as the day I was born a rivulet to stream, 

estero to a tributary that feeds the mighty sea,

     as virgin as the Paradise of Milton's dream.

Mother, let me die - or let me sleep then forever,

     for neither can I flow out to sea nor keep in the sun;

let me die with garbage and silently sink in the murk,

     with foul gases, on thickening sludge, silt and sand.

I hear no songs anymore, Abelardo is long dead;

     I see no living garlands, not a bird building nest

among lilies and floating kiapo, among the nilad,

     pride of a race, woven into mats for lovely rest. 

Ahoy there! Two children are staring at my water 
      but they can't see what is inside me, I am as black,

as a dark night, but oh, how my heart longs for them!

     I have lost all things good - even as a mirror I lack.

Mother, let me die, there's no more sense of living,

     for I do not belong to humans anymore, I swear;

I'm no longer a part of creation, I'm but a stranger;

     but my mother doesn't answer;

     my mother doesn't answer.~