In The Veranda Of Memories
(Poem)
the whole days and nights
are passing by
in the veranda of memories
drifting in the sea of consciousness
frames glaring with gory pictures
like rebellious scenes
through the pupil’s screen
breaking the skull of my mind
why? why?
the pustulous images terrify
slamming my dumbfounded face
drumming my heaving chest
howling in my sweltering blood!
perpetually present are
in the veranda of memories
pictures as forlorn as naked corpse
sharp lancet slashing my flesh
images engraved in my mind
by a vicious sculptor
imprinted in my eyes
by the greedy painter
butchered bodies
blood with crawling ants
brain torn to pieces
skeletal arms
muddled garbage
sunken eyes
emaciated cheeks
withered legs
fungi-infested feet
blistery palms
worn-out shoes
children lying in the sidewalks
children barefooted in the streets
innocent lad with no milk
mothers weeping
fathers praying
hut genuflecting in the backyard
house in the crawling canal
spring of sweat
in the forehead and body
of workers and peasants
cracking bones of the poor
all these are gray sceneries in the afternoon
black paint in the pallid moon
gory images that refuse to leave
my battered sanity and consciousness.
why? why?
whether in the chilly morning
or in the night of ave marias
ever lingering
in the veranda of memories
the pictures i abhorred to see
never, never visit me forevermore
never, never appear before my eyes
pictures orphaned by joy
the blood in my veins will boil
the tissues in my brain will be aflame
the fingers crushed by misery
desire not to strum a guitar
the voice turned hoarse
in the streets of protests
rejects to hum lingering love songs.
in the veranda of memories
may the painters of new justice
draw new sceneries
may the fortress of joy
be sculpted
in the city’s bosom
in the breast of hill and mountain
in the barren land
of a desolate field
in the veranda of memories
i am fervently waiting
for the violent deluge
the surge of blood
in palaces of greed
the whip of lightning
on the barbaric monsters
the burst of flame
on the demonic rulers
then, and only then…
will burn down
will vanish forevermore
the images i abhorred to see
in the veranda of memories!
(modified English version by Laurence Marvin S. Castillo of Sa Beranda Ng Mga Alaala)
