Not The Month Of Flowers Is May

The Landlord’s Horse A Night Of Dreams At The Piers Of Havana

Not The Month Of Flowers Is May

(Poem)

not the month of flowers is may

or the procession of flirting queens

it’s not also the month of lavish fiestas

in honor of numerous venerated saints

instead it’s the blood shedding

of the likes of crisanto evangelista

of the marxist labor party

it’s the revolt of the crispin beltrans

of the fiery may 1 movement

yes, it’s the unfurling of red flags

by the exploited working class

it’s the rumbling of thousands of feet

on the heaving street of mendiola

it’s the reverberations in the air

of the liberating message of the “internationale”

it’s the month the anger of clenched fists

would be dynamites loudly exploding

and the feverish wind would carry on its wings

the collective hatred of so many fathers

the lamentations of so many mothers

and the cries of twisted intestines

could the lords of sorrows hear

the grief of a race and the oppressed?

yes, may is not the month of flowers

it’s the decades of may of falling tears

sprinkling the yellowish grass

so the stunted growth of fervent hopes

may finally grow and bloom

it’s the month of continuing struggle

against the exploitative class

and the cohorts of injustices

it’s the month of strengthening the united front

for the coming dark nights of vigil

it’s the tight linking of arms

of the oppressed-downtrodden class

till they trek the mountain trails

and whisper to the hissing bullets

the laments of seething brains

and transform into piercing arrows

the class dignity of a race

and aim and shoot them deep

to the hearts of greedy demigods

who always embrace the vault of wealth

and see nothing but the glitter of gold

never hearing the pulsating bleeding hearts

of the long-oppressed wretched class.