A Model for Generations.

BEA IMPERIAL SAW: WRITING HISTORY HERE AND NOW

History is written in hindsight, but history is created here and now. It is at the most welcome triumph of one of the daughters of Baao, Bea Imperial Saw that compelled me to write about her. Like all Filipinos I followed lightly but later on was transfixed to the TV set as the drama unfolded at the PBB House. Real life is really as dramatic if not more so than fiction. Characters that you see most of the time played from a script appear and happen in real life. I write history to find and show examples of heroism and admirable character so that they may be taught to the young in the hope that someday these are the kind of people they grow up to. Bea surprises me because in my lifetime I saw in her the traits that I only pick from my readings and sometimes make believe that they are inherent in my heroes. Unlike popular celebrities, Bea did not get to the hearts of the Filipinos because she was beautiful or one who knew how to sing, dance and act, but got to it because of her strength, fortitude and childlike humility all of them played out in front of a national audience. Her reactions towards the actions and counter-reactions of her anti-theses Wendy and the one I forgot already, plays out in my head and would be unforgetable through the years. It's like watching Manny Pacquiao slugging it out, except this time it was wits, feelings, words and actions instead of fists. I will be of no surprise if someday, if not one of these days, some writer would label her as the epitome of what is good, true and beautiful about the Filipina youth and worthy as a model of character for our troubled times. If Bea doesn't do a Nora Aunor later in life, again Baao is blessed with a Baaoeno of national stature to be added to our growing pantheon of worthy Baaoeno personalities. I may not be there to write about her so i'm taking my chance now.

Nightfall


Amber colored clouds cling close to the cliffs,
waters wash ashore ushering the rushing tides,
and the sun slowly slips silently to the sea
Soon the day slumbers, soon it will be nightfall.

You took me my love on a bright brilliant day,
you caught my eye with your sparkling eyes.
My chest heaved with life again and my head
began to float hovering and hanging in space

I followed you with my thoughts and feared
the day I would say goodbye and thank you.
Hoping that somehow after all we will remain
friends, not more, just see you, hear your voice.

Somehow I prayed I won’t slip and lose you
in one of these long conversations at nightfall.
When the darkness veils this dazed passion
and calms this heaving heart eager for you.

Stillness, silence, sleep soothe this silly soul,
keep my love calm and eager still waiting for me.
It is the new moon and window sills begin to glow,
she awaits, I hope it will be dark soon at nightfall.

Cut Myself Shaving


Cut myself shaving one day
with an old razor and saw myself
on the mirror with blood
on my fingers.
I did it once, when I was younger
and my features were clear
but now the scar’s
nowhere in my face.
I’ve stopped to be disturbed about
what I feel and others say
when I have none to blame
but myself.
Better I suppose to be unconcerned
with what happens today
because who cares
it will happen anyway.
I’ve lost my steady hand and
my skin starts to wrinkle
and sooner or later
I’ll cut myself again.

Shadows

Shadows dance on the flat floor
of my house
and memories return of a house
Long gone
blown down by a storm.

Those years were dark and poor
yet happy ones
with everybody in the house
even the stray boy
and the cats.

I learned to love in that house.
to laugh at troubles
and to await later triumphs
Just as sure as the sun
finally comes out

and light washes away
the shadows after
a storm.

Around My House


To the east sits steady
Ki Agang’s throne
A splendid blue volcano
where the sun slips in at dawn

The south sprawls a cacophony
of people, friends and kin
clump of trees and concrete
to lose cares in the busy din.

The vast north open boundless
where soothing breeze begin
and Simurai skims the clouds
and the road to dreams open

Sunsets to the west bodes peace
and balmy tranquility sleeps
at Baao lake where my people began
with God’s glory, grandeur, and gifts.

At Barlin Park

Summers end at Barlin park
beneath St. Bartholomew’s
I’d climb the stone bulwark
slippery and wet with dew
and see the town anew

then I would jump free
to the soft grass below
on scraped hands and knee
as others would follow
and roll away triumphantly

and the monkey bars will call
and we clamber up the device
arm over arm we’d crawl
through a gauntlet of pipes
till at last our breath sufficed

no one remembered home
and we wished for the rain
scanning the clouds that roam
as we cleared the grass of grain
where last summer we had lain

come at last the first raindrops
from skies turning grey and dim
I’d close my eyes to the drops
till water reach grass tips rim
and lift me off a carpet of green

THE SHADOW MAIDEN

In our islands long ago, before the Spanish came, here lived a wondrous kingdom. It was ruled by an old king who had two sons who were already young men. The first, Prince Ma-kusog, was a strong and was a fearsome warrior. The other, was Prince Booton who was a scholar and a poet. When the old king died, Makusog became king and from that day on his kingdom did not know peace. Quarrelsome and fierce, he was always at war with the other kingdoms.When he was not at war, he made bloody incursions into the forest beside his kingdom, hunting and killing all the animals that crossed his path. Possessing a more merciful heart, Prince Booton would run ahead of his brother during these hunts and scared away most of the animals.One day, after killing a sacred bird, the guardian of the forest, Diwata Araw-ena appeared. She pleaded to the King and his companions stop and leave the forest alone. Her tears flowed down her cheeks that had the color of sunset clouds and the teardrops fell to the ground like moonbeams. She was very beautiful because she was the daughter of Hadeng Aldaw, the sun and Reyna Bulan, the moon. The two brothers, Ma-kusog and Booton fell in love with her.The King thought she would make a fine Queen and sent spies to follow her. At the Royal house, he prepared ten baskets of gold and fine jewels. When the spies arrived at sunrise he sent his messenger and some slaves with his gifts to ask for her hand. By sunset they returned still with the gifts and a messenger who was not too happy with his news. The impatient Ma-kusog was told that Araw-ena refuses any man specially one who has too much blood in his hands. Ma-kusog’s heart was stung as if by a thousand bees because men who look strong are actually weaklings and Ma-kusog was one of them.In the kingdom lived a witch who was known to employ evil spirits and Ma-kusog kept her for occasions like this. Seeing her master burning with rage when he ordered her to punish Araw-ena, the witch resolved to do everything in her power. She summoned the dust spirit that flies with the wind and brought pestilence and the water spirit that flow with the river and harden the skin. With her two companions, they traveled through the forest and found Araw-ena. Taking all the power that could be had from all envy and jealousy in men’s hearts and all blackness and hardness that settled on the bottom from hatred and anger, they succeeded in turning Araw-ena to stone.Hadeng Aldaw, who was shining that day, saw all this but his infinite patience only allowed him to let his daughter’s shadow to escape. Spending so much of her power, the old witch grew weaker and weaker disappeared never to be seen again. When Booton found the once beautiful maiden turned to stone, he was stricken with grief but he did not lose hope. Every day he went to the stone and talked to it as if it were alive. At night he sang and serenaded to it hoping that his words of love would soften the stone and break the spell.Many days passed and the words and the songs did not succeed and Booton exhausted, lay beside the stone, until the winds and the forest took pity on him. The grass knew where Araw-ena’s shadow went,they still had its footprints. The east wind, Sirangan, knows her and called her out of the darkness. The south wind, Amihan, who knew every secret because she traveled at night, had found out how to break the spell. The north wind, Timog, the strongest brought the shadow to the stone. Now everything was ready but they had to consult the west wind, Sulnopan, because he sits around all day doing nothing but think.The spell could be broken, Sulnopan said, but because too many evil hearts were used, they had to have one good heart. So they all hung their heads in despair and stilled the air not knowing what to do. Until Booton decided to do one final sacrifice for his beloved Araw-ena. He prayed to Gugurang, the all-knowing to make his heart worthy and then he offered it to the winds. The winds took what they needed and did what they had to do and restored Araw-ena.But it was too much for the young prince and he died at Araw-ena’s feet. When Araw-ena learned of Booton’s sacrifice she felt the beatings of love in her heart that had once beaten in Booton’s heart.Taking Booton’s body to her mother the moon, Araw-ena asked her to bury the body in Reyna Bulan’s home, the night sky. But Booton’s goodness could not be hidden, it had to shine through. So to this very day, when we look up to the night sky, we can see it---they are the stars that you see glittering in a calm and moonless night..