Poetry - Views from a Helicopter

Photos by Dr Abe V Rotor

Fishponds of Malabon, Bulacan

Irrigated ricefields at sunrise in Laur, Nueva Ecija.

Submerged town of Pantabangan resurfaces during drought, 1981

Folly of Human Art

For once I am on top of the world,
seeing many a stage of life below,
nature in her pristine and injured,
by man's genius, his joy and sorrow.

Endless levees that keep off the sea,
with each facet a living chamber;
levees that keep in the monsoon rain,
where Ceres descends in October.

A dead lake where the faithful come
in pilgrimage of a lost town,
like a peaceful place in ancient Peru -
the lost town of Pantabangan.

Oh, I cannot hold on any longer,
heavy are my thoughts and heart;
now I know what mortal means,
seeing the folly of human art. ~