Thursday, August 26, 2021

"This morning I met silence" and other poems

Selected Verses from "USTogether"
A Thomasian Faculty Anthology
 
"While power leads man toward arrogance, 
poetry reminds him of his limitations." 
John F Kennedy as cited by the late Dean Ophelia A Dimalanta PhD, UST Arts and Letters in the book's Foreword, ("USTogether" A Thomasian Faculty Anthology by 
Professor Erlita D Mendoza, March 1998). 

Paintings by Dr Abe V Rotor

This morning I met silence
Armando F. de Jesus, PhD 
Dean UST Arts and Letters

In the dark mists
this morning I met silence.
What soothing voice!

This morning
silence has sounds,
darkness has light.
To hear sounds, one must be
steeped in silence.
To see light, one must be
enveloped in darkness.
I saw light in darkness.
I heard sound greet me
from silence.
                                       
Morning by a Nymphaea Pond in acrylic by AVR

In mornings like this,
silence stills the noise I hear within.
Darkness tempers
the blinding light of my knowing.
In mornings like this
there is calm.
I have peace.

        A View of the Valley


















Mountain Stream in acrylic AVR

The valley's still, the fog is thick and gray,
Many a dream is born and gone astray.
A beacon beaming once, now ringed with light,
Where once a moth has died in a spirited flight.
It keeps eternal whisperings as the wind passes by,
Bringing sweet memories and new promises,
Where a beacon beams though now ringed with light,
Where another moth dies in another flight.

                             Abercio V. Rotor, Graduate School


Washerwoman

TodayI'll wash
The robe of emptiness
Until it is sun-bleached white
Scrubbing blotches of splitting
Afterthoughtspain rubs hard
Against the lesions of wrinkled
.Ashen hands hurting repeatedly
Upon each stroke of reminiscence.

It's half done now,
But  the sudstill billow
Into cumulus frothbubblehide
All residuof misery
wring tightly thiorphan feeling
Till everlonging driptheir last.
I’ll hang mheart to dry
Sheet clean in the long line
Of forgetting and forgiving.

•                    Ferdinand M. LopezArts and Letters



Scavengers
(Manggahan Dumpsite.Quezon City)

Many years ago
You had another name,
Gleaners, and work was also game.
Now it's all work
And the art of the vulture,
And those with fangs and ugly mane.
But if none is waste and waste is useful
Would your breed thrive just the same?

              Abercio V. Rotor, Graduate School

 Quiet


The morning failed
to keep its promise of rain.
The sun shone
across the silent
sober place.

And standing idly
in this half-reflected
gleam,
I felt a nameless,
unfamiliar cheer:
A pleasure secret
and austere.

      Nancy N. Tabirara, Arts and Letters









Fishing after rain in acrylic AVR

Paskong 'El Nino
(Ang bawa't pasko ay paskong el nino
sapagka't ang dahilan, buodat puno'dulo
ng ating pagdiriwang ay ang pagsilang ng sanggol na mesiyas:
EI Nino Hesus )

Nawa'y gawin ka niyang mapagbigay
Tulad ng Ulan,
Dugtong-dugtong kung pumatak
Bagama't minsa'y ambong-Iuha lamang.

Nawa'y gawin ka niyang malaya
Tulad ng Ilog,
Walang patid kung dumaloy
Bagama't minsa'y usad-estero lamang.

Nawa'y gawin ka niyang mapagmahal
Tulad ng Dagat,
Walang maliw ang debosyon sa dalampasigan
Bagama't minsa'y lambing-alon lamang.

Nawa'y gawin ka niyang mapaglikha
Tulad ng Lupa,
Bawa't patak ng ulan, daloy ng ilog, alan ng dagat
Ay nagiging salita sa kanyang sinapupunan
Isinisilang sa daigdig
Bilang bulaklak at luntiang kariktan.

                          Rolando V. dela Rosa,OP
Kaingin

There is loneliness
In gazing at mountains
where many trees die.
The hills glisten red, then blue.
The rains will bring
tears of mud.
(But until then .. )
Where have all the flowers gone?
The avalanche of fires
will overcome wanton caterpillars,
there is no place for butterflies
this time.
Flowers, trees
sigh -
they wither,
they sputter,
and then lie
in homage to the sky.
Smoldering,
crackled splinters
of lives once spent.

Requiem to a Fallen Log in oil by AVR

The winds cease their whispers
as dying embers are laid to rest
at passing of the day.
In requiem,
finally.
          Rodel E. Aligan, OP


Be Thou the Stewards


Harvestime in acrylic AVR

In the beginning
The earth was bare
And Chaos ruled.
And then a gentle gaze,
The tender voice of Love
Brought forth the rolling hills,
The shady woods,

The lambent murmuring seas,
The placid lakes,
The gleaming galaxies,
The glowing dawn and soothing twilight .
Man and woman .
Then flowers bloomed!

And the voice of Love
In solemn admonition rang,
"Be thou the Stewards of these gifts."
In the silence of our hearts
We hear this truth.

As guardian of these bounties
We must preserve,
Conserve the affluence of nature,
Tranquility of woods and forests,
Protect the lakes and seas.

And then we can indeed rejoice
And say, ''I've done my share!"

Elena P. PoloScience ~

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