"Let the Philippines be the Philippines again!"
by David Michael San Juan
with the introduction and the final part by Paul Smirnoff
Poem inspired by a poem of Langston Hughes and another by Rafael Zulueta da Costa. It was made in commemoration of the 20th year of the Philippine Senate's rejection of the extension of the US Bases Agreement, leading to the eviction of US forces in Clark Pampanga and in Subic Zambales.
The latter was a version made by yours truly. patterned after the "hail Mary" prayer.
Rise up Rizal, rise up
from your concrete grave,
turn asunder the ivory tower
where the gods
have enthroned you away
from the soiled hands
of the motherland's
tillers.
Let the Philippines
be
the Philippines
again!
Doctor dearest,
patriot most high,
come down from the heavens
and resuscitate the faint,
dying pulse of the wretched land,
drowning in an ocean of tears,
suffocating in the putrid air of urban decay,
twisted beyond recognition
by the diamond chains
of the blue Yankees
and the "red" Yellows,
Rekindle
the lamp of Simoun
to light the path
of the vanguards.
Let the Philippines
be
the Philippines
again!
Let Tasio throwhis cloak of old age,
let him rise from his sickbed
to be the soul of every teacher
from the farthest barrios at the foot of Sierra Madre
to the madrasahs of the South
and the gated universities of the capital,
to nurture a new generation
of Isaganis and Crisostomos
minus the seasonal blindness
caused by one-way loves.
Let the strength of Elias the immortal,
surge in the blood of toilers,
smashing their way to end
the rule of fat thieves
wearing coats and ties,
and woven pineapple fibers,
opening the doors
of all banks wide
to feed hungry mouths,
clothe the naked,
house the homeless,
burning all hacienda titles to ashes
so that the peasants
can once and for all
own the land.
Let the bells
of Padre Florentino's churches
toll to summon
every patriot
from the humble hut,
the suburban village,
the slums,
the cardboard houses,
the streets,
the fields,
the mountaintops.
the plateaus,
the mansions,
everywhere,
in a grand assembly
to elect Don Filipo Lino
as president
to right all wrongs.
Let the Philippines be the Philippines
again!
A country
where the Lord God
reigns
and not
god Greed,
where the green-gold fields
of fragrant rice and corn
blossom for everyone,
where the land is free
from filthy hands
that don't toil,
where no one cries
of imposed misery,
a land of shared joys
and halved sorrows,
a land where all humans
are brothers and sisters,
caring, sharing, working, daring to struggle
together forever...
HAIL RIZAL,
SON OF THE NATION,
PRAY FOR US INDIGENTS,
NOW,
AND AT THE HOUR OF OUR DEATH,
AMEN.
