Be Not Proud, My Foes

Artwork: Butterflies Trying to Escape Their Shadow - Peter Callessen, 2005

be not
proud,
my foes:

all is
not yet
lost!

i can
still
fly
free
from your
lies,
your dark
mumblings,
every
single
curse
you've
uttered
against
me.

be not
proud
of
yourselves
for you
are as
nothing,
are as
rubbish,
are as
dross:

you malign
that which
you
understand
not;
you scoff
at that
which you
fear,
which you
dread,
which you
know
will mean
your
end.

be not
proud,
my foes:

death
will have
her last
laugh
yet...

and you
will weep,
will moan,
will mourn,
and curse
the day
you
were
born.

when that
day comes:

good riddance
and get
thee
gone.

Grief and Circumstance

Artwork: Annie Duels the Sun - Angie Wang, 2010

i weep:

my heart bleeds
sore
within
and i know
not
what to
do

for all
are against
me,
none stand
for me;

my world
is fallen,
is black,
is bleak,

and i
am too
spent
for any
struggle

my heart
is weary
and all
i want
to do
is die.

730 Days and Then Some

Artwork: The Second Look - Carin Welz-Stein, date unknown

i wrote
you off
when we
first met:

you were
a child
fresh from
school;
a pest
who plagued
and pestered
and drove
me mad
for a
fortnight.

and yet
when once
again
our paths
crossed:

you seemed
to come
alive
at the
sound
of my
name.

when we
next met,
things took
a turn:

it's been
two years
and then
some -

and you
still plague
and pester
and drive
me mad...

but
in a
good
way;
a very
good
way.

W2

Artwork: Boy in Static - Audrey Kawasaki, 2010

i look outside
into the bleak
the cold
the grey
the wet
world
below
and
sigh

and think
and wonder
and look
back
on a
sunny
warm
may
day:

how i
wanted
to say
something
other than
the
technobabble
gobbledegook
we were
conversing
in,

how i
wanted
to speak
of hope,
of life,
of faith
and then
some...

but i...
am a
coward
and i
spoke
not.

and i
regret
my silence
every second
minute
hour
day
that has
passed

and i
look out
at the
cold
world
below...

and wish
it was
may
and wish
you were
here
and i
could say
what i
want
need
wish
to
say.

A Time of National Crisis

Photo by AFP/Getty Images via CNN.com

Cross-posted from Sybaritic Diversions.

This post is going to look seriously out of character given the nature of this blog, but I feel the need to scream in serious frustration with everything that has happened over the past twenty-four hours.

In one fell swoop, a single madman made history by destroying the Philippines' reputation across the globe. Through the deaths of several hostages yesterday, this lawkeeper turned lawbreaker has thrown a wrench into the new administration's plan of making positive changes.

And who will end up - who are currently - suffering because of his stupidity, his misplaced yearning to return to the police force? Us - the Filipino people.

My heart grieves for our domestic helpers, factory workers, and tutors working in Hong Kong. I fear for their lives, knowing well the potential for violent retaliation inherent in the situation. Because of one man's madness, their lives are now in danger.

My blood seethes with anger at how this incident will have a seriously negative impact on tourism and commerce.

I want to know why our authorities did not move faster. In their desire to be cautious given that the culprit was an experienced policeman, they overdid it and this caused the needless loss of lives.

I want to know why the media swarmed the crime scene like so many maggots over a rotting carcass. Don't these newshounds have any sense of decorum or propriety whatsoever?

I want to know why the police didn't cordon off the area ASAP. As a result, bystanders came flocking in out of curiosity. What if there was a bomb in that bus? What if the hostage-taker wasn't dead and decided to set it off, taking more lives in the process?

This whole fiasco is a horrible black mark against the Philippine National Police, but the Hong Kong government has taken things to the extreme by declaring the Philippines as unsafe ground, calling home its nationals, and pretty much painting a gory portrait of our country as an ongoing bloodbath run by idiots and nutcases.

This is no time for us to just sit still, twiddle our thumbs, and do nothing.

The gauntlet has been cast.

I pray and hope that this incident will not lead to just finger-pointing, a whole new blame game on top of the one that has been playing out for years.

I pray and hope that this bloody incident will galvanize the Filipino people, that it will unite us in the common cause of washing away this bloody stain, this slur upon our identity as a people, as a nation.