When You Bade Goodbye
(Poem)
when you bade goodbye
not a tear fell
on the dew-filled blades of grass
not a single bead
merged with the spattering rain
not a sob moaned
with the creaking bamboo plants
not even an acrid smile
dawned on your lips
the cruel breeze tossed
your waist-length hair
our hands clasped not
our bodies mingled not
in a tight embrace of farewell
but in our warm stares
lingered the granite of our oneness
with the sacred aspirations of the masses
i had nothing to offer you then
save a few pats on your shoulder
and some implied messages
as you set your journey
toward the waiting liberated mountain.
when you bade goodbye
you didn’t express
what was in your heart
you didn’t explain
your firm decision
your lips locked
with the chilly and crying dawn
but ablaze were your eyes
which made me understand
the whip of thunderbolt in your mind
the surge of blood in your vein
that drained not only into your body
but into each fiber of the flesh
of the oppressed class
of those chained in haciendas
and vast ricefields not theirs
of those enslaved by machines
in every shop and factory of greed
of those whose dreams were crumbled
by the injustices
of an inhuman society
and corrupt bureaucracy
yes, neither a speck of doubt
nor a prayer of safety
you needed then in your heroic march
towards the peoples’ liberation and glory!
when you bade goodbye
i humbly bowed before your leaving
i don’t expect i could still hear
your reverberating voice
in the streets of protests
i could see no more
the flicking of your hands
as you stressed your points
and explained the moss-covered
society’s maladies
that cry out for urgent remedies
yes, we could no longer share
a plate of rice and simple viand
in the canteen of discontent
yes, amanda de los reyes
am expecting no longer
you’d still come back
as long as our time remains
veiled with gloom
as long as the bleak dawn
is not yet an scarlet morn
as long as grayish is the hour
like when you bade goodbye.
(modified English version by Emmanuel V. Dumlao of Nang Magpaalam Ka)
