English Poems.

Sonnet I

MAN OF EARTH

Jose Garcia Villa

Amador T. Daguio

First, a poem must be magical, Then musical as sea gull. It must be a brightness moving And hold secret a bird’s flowering. It must be slender as a bell, And it must hold fire as well. It must have the wisdom of bows And it must kneel like a rose. It must be able to hear The luminance of dove and deer. It must be able to hide What it seeks, like a bride. And over all I would like to hover God, smiling from the poem’s cover.

Pliant is the bamboo I am a man of earth; They say that from the bamboo We had our first birth Am I of the body, Or of the green leaf? Do I have to whisper My every sin and grief? If the wind passes by, Must I stoop and try To measure fully My flexibility?

WHERE IS MAY?

Fernando Ma. Guerrero

My happy days have passed away, The hills and woods have lost their flower. Where is May? Where are its sweet and charming hours? Cheer me, my star, and give me light To see at least a leasant way; Show me your eyes so dear and bright To find my way. With thoughts of care I bend my head. Where is my May? I am alone, I eat my Bread Away from yo so far away.

I might have been the bamboo, But I will be a man. Bend me then, O Lord, Bend me if you can. LIKE THE MOLAVE R. Zulueta da costa

Not yet, Rizal. Sleep not in peace; There are a thousand waters to be spanned; There are a thousand mountains to be crossed; There are a thousand crossed to be borne. Our shoulders are not strong; our sinews are Grown flaccid with dependence, smug with ease Under another's wing. Rest not in peace; Not yet Rizal, not yet. The land had need Of young blood and what younger

than your own. Forever spilled in the great name of freedom, Forever oblate on the altar of the free? Not yet alone, Rizal. O souls. And spirits of the martyred brave, arise! Arise and sour the land! Shed once again Your willing lood! Infuse the vibrant red Into our thin anemic veins; until We pick up your Promethean tools and, strong, Out of the depthless matrix of your faith In us, and on the silent cliffs of freedom, We carve for all time your marmoreal dream! Until your people, seeing, are become Like the molave, firm, resilent, staunch, Rising on the hillside, unafraid, Strong in his own fibre; yes, like the molave! The Rural Maid

Fernando M. Maramag

Thy glance, sweet maid, when first we met, Had left a heart that aches for thee, I feel the pain of fond regret— Thy heart, perchance, is not for me. We parted: though we met no more, My dreams are dreams of thee, fair

maid; I think of thee, my thoughts implore The hours my lips on thine are laid. Forgive these words that love impart, And pleading, bare the poet’s breast; And if a rose with thorns thou art, Yet on my breast that rose may rest. I know not what to name thy charms, Thou art half human, half divine; And if I could hold thee in my arms, I know both heaven and earth were mine. Father

Alfred A. Yuson

Must everything begin and end with tensions as with Father and son, the memory of games and sins between? In the hospital I watched your heart tighten its flutter across a screen, a moty blipping fom breath to breath And finally arriving at a pin point of dark, the last light a fient that three me off your sorry hint. Eutering your deathroom I came upon a sad peace, bent towards time and kissed you; you were him. Pressed your hand and in wild appeal to chance thumped a child’s blow upon your chest, a field I wanted to revive and roam

upon some more, though the dusk of a dream hurried me along toward half a home.

And my blind Lear* will walk me out Without a word Fearing to peer behind.

ORDER FOR MASKS

If my lover comes, Yes, when Seducer comes Make for me the face That will in color race The carnival stars And change in shape Under his grasping hands. Make it bloody When he needs it white Make it wicked in the dark Let him find no old mark Make it stone to his suave touch This magician will walk me out Newly loved. Not knowing why my tantalizing face Is strangely like the mangled parts of a face He once wiped out.

Virginia Moreno

To this harlequinade I wear black tight and fool’s cap Billiken*, make me three bright masks For the three tasks in my life. Three faces to wear One after the other For the three men in my life. When my Brother comes make me one opposite If he is a devil, a saint With a staff to his fork And for his horns, a crown. I hope for my contrast To make nil Our old resemblance to each other and my twin will walk me out Without a frown Pretending I am another.

Make me three masks. Notable Allusions:

When my Father comes Make me one so like His child once eating his white bread in trance Philomela* before she was raped. I hope by likeness To make him believe this is the same kind The chaste face he made,

Billiken- a charm doll with a pointed ears and mischievous smile. Philomela- According to Greek Mythology, Philomela was a daughter of King Pandion I of Athens and a sister of Procne. In the story, King Tereus of Thrace (husband of Procne) raped Philomela and cut out her tongue. King Lear- A tragedy by William Shakespeare.

Questions: 1. What is the poet's description of the rural maid? 2. Why do you think is the word "dreams" repeated in the 2nd stanza? 3. Point out symbolisms used in the poem.

4. How is the feeling of being loved pictured in the poem? 5. Courting is but normal scene among teenagers nowadays. Compare the manner of courting in old and Answers: The language comes alive not from the present words and their common meanings, but from the usage which enables our senses to achieve reality. Fernando Maramag was an excellent poet and journalist in English. His rich style and deep understanding of the human nature make his poems appealing to all readers. In his poem, The Rural Maid, the persona is a guy who fell in love with a girl. Even if he left, the memory of his maiden still remains in him; proving that his love for her transcends time and distance. This poem is so sad but I like how love is shown by the lover. His love for his beloved is so unconditional and transcendental. Love is addicting. No questions asked – no strings attached. For me, there’s no other word to describe that sweet sensation that makes a smile appear on ones face; a grin accompanied with that contented trademark sigh. But let’s face it: not everyone has a ‘happily-ever-after’ ending. We end up having people are usually called ‘hopeless dreamers’; those that hold onto dreams that could never turn into reality. “The Rural Maid” by Fernando M. Maramag is one good example of a hopeless dreamer’s passion for a girl he could, and never would, own. Moreover, it is about a love of the painful kind: a one-sided love. Reading this poem, you could feel a part of the poet’s torn and shredded heart, as if you were holding these pieces in your own hands; pieces that are laced with bitterness but with no regret. He bares his soul, no matter how hard, and used a metaphor to tell the readers how it fells: “and if a rose with thorns thou art, yet on my breast that rose may rest” Even if I’m not that old yet to experience these things, through the poet’s choice of words I could feel a man’s sacrifice, a potion of which hope and eternal damnation mix. Sometimes, no matter how addicting love can get, one must know when to stop dreaming and to start living in the world of reality. The words written are of the words of someone’s feelings: a small voice of unrequited love. Loyalty, respect, sincerity. The three things you can rarely find these days in men and women as well. all these were beautifully exemplified by the poet. I love how the persona in the poem admired the maid. the line "Thou art half human, half divine" shows how much the persona in the poem appreciated the maid's beauty. The last two lines embodies the persona's sincerity for the maid and how true the persona's love was for the maid. "Order for Masks" by Virginia R. Moreno The poem, "Order for Masks", is clearly talking about the different roles that the woman, who is the persona in the poem, has to portray throughout her life. It presents the woman's three masks which represent the three tasks in her life and the three faces she has to wear for the three men in her life. The first role that is illustrated is that of a sister – the woman towards her brother. As a sister, she tries to differentiate herself from her brother that is why she does things that are completely opposite or in contrast with the things her brother does. She wants to be unlike him in every possible way so to make him feel secure in his masculinity and to make him believe that she is not a threat to him. The next role mentioned is that of a daughter – the woman towards her father. As a daughter, she wants to show her father that she is the kind of woman that he expects her to be – pure, innocent and chaste, leading him to believe that she is the perfect or ideal daughter. Also, the woman is projecting to him that she is still the same child he knew and the same face he made. The last role that she plays is that of a lover – the woman towards her lover. This time, she projects herself as someone who does her best to satisfy and fulfill the needs and wants of her partner. She makes him believe that by being the woman he wants her to be, she is making herself the best partner for him. In the three roles that the poem discusses, it can be said that the woman shapes her behavior, actions and personality in accordance to the needs of the men. This, in a way, degrades or lowers the status of the woman as it reduces her whole being to mere instrument that satisfies and pleases men's needs and wants. But this conclusion is compensated by the other fact that the poem is trying to imply. The poem shows that the woman, through her ability to make the men in her life see and believe what she wants them to, to some extent, is...