Andong

I saw myself standing in this befouling place,
Starving, digging, hunting for any monkey-eating eagle I can spot.
I looked up the sky.
I saw flocks, but little by little,
They flew high and disappeared in the full hungry clouds.
Nothing was left but these dark clouds, formed by pressurized sea.
Their precipitation followed, and I enjoyed it at the start.
It continued.
Many sounds followed;
The wind whipped and wiped me out,
And a wrath of electric shock caught me.
I fell down again, and this was ordinary.
Following things that usually follows,
I forced myself to sit at the middle of this road.
The flood lowered from my curly hair, four feet,
To two
But still, it was cold and I was shaking.
I embraced myself to make heat and compared it with the mother’s.
It couldn’t sustain but I managed to survive.
No one was there except those eyes, except those eyes.

Then, on the brown mountains I look.
A ball, yellow clouds, has come.
I get up to look into the place for trees to be my shield
For the king of the sky is tormenting me,
But nowhere can I see their green leaves.
My brown skin feels hot, it peels.
I’m thirsty;
I want to drink but I don’t want.
O please! Is there no other than the foul waters of Pasig
Or the contaminated waters of the seas?
I better die in thirst. That is what I like.
Behold I stand in the middle of this wide road,
I can see no living other than those eyes.

I have seen no living, but living in me I sense.
There has been a blood sucker on my head.
In my hair they have dwelt-
In my curly hair which supposed to beautify me.
They have stained the image of my head,
My brainous head, intelligent and wise
That can control all my body parts.
But because of the disturbance of these big little creatures,
My hands have refused to follow.
They have minded what these fellows do so they ended punishing my head.
No one has seen it excluding those eyes.

Those merciful eyes I had seen,
He bears a boat.
I had seen him on it at the flood.
Everything I needed at the times of disaster were in his possession-
He has clothes that can give the warmth I wish for,
He holds a cap that can provide protection against the sun,
He owns a comb for my hair,
And he can get rid of my pests.
If I only come and ask for his help,
He can lend me those things.
If I only humble myself,
He can lay the seeds of trees,
Clean the dirty waters,
And refresh the cloudy air.
I see him, I see those eyes.

I am a Filipino and this problem is common among us
Even until this 21st century of changes.
I have changed a lot.
I am neither Maria Clara nor Juan.
I am Andong, I am the
Philippines.
And those eyes,
Blessed, divine, righteous eyes are of the Heavenly one.