Homely Catanduanes

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Whatever way homely means,
to me Catanduanes is home
of beautiful nature and people.
of happy children, of simple living,
full of life and laughter.

From the air, it's a greenery, 
forests untouched, fields golden
to brown to green again 
as seasons roll on and on, 
in spite of the havoc of typhoon.  
      

River meets the sea like friends
eager to tell their own story, and I,
a foreigner to the place an eager 
audience, a pupil of land, sea and sky.  

Children take the street at sundown sans gadgets, 
but native toys and native jokes and laughter,
and native customs of old, tradition they'll carry on,
And I, how I wish I were like them in my time.     

Change, indeed time has changed,.
from native home to a modern dwelling 
speaks of progress and its own prize, 
but whose and what, we can only surmise.   
  

I met a balikbayan from a large city;

visiting his birthplace to him a duty;

to bridge three generations apart;

homing instinct I found the greatest art,

what really makes a place homely 

is in keeping the bonds of a family.