Tag Archives: Pasig River

Poem: For the City That Nearly Broke Me 4

[Edits below.]

Home Petrochemical Depot

Ang lakas ko ay nalipat,
Sa puso’t dibdib ng lahat;
Kung nais ninyong akoy mabuhay,
Pag-ibig ko’y inyong ibigay.

–Nicanor Abelardo, “Mutya ng Pasig”

Praised be You my Lord, through Brother Sun

Petroleum fumes burn my eyes, my lungs
It hurts when I breathe, it hurts when I don’t

Praised be You my Lord, through Brother Air

High from inhaling gasoline vapors
Headrushing’s made me a junkie

Praised be You my Lord, through Sister Water

I bathe in her, I drink her tears
Collected in cisterns, poison rain

Praised be You my Lord, through Brother Fire

I erupt in bleeding ulcers and boils
My body, a cancerous tree in bloom

–

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Poem: For the City That Nearly Broke Me 3

Rosas, claveles,
Pásig ameno,
Luce con galas mil

–Jose Rizal, Junto al Pasig

[Yoink! Poem was here, and has since been revised.]

—

Here, the italicized Spanish verse is Jose Rizal’s opening chorus to Junto al Pasig. Not sure what else I can offer by way of explanation. As far as the effect of my lines pushing up on Rizal’s lines, I’ll leave that all to you to decide.

Poem: For the City That Nearly Broke Me

Taga Ilog

I was hoping I’d see someone else; not you,

suffocating your children in your full skirt’s

folded barbs. Hooded ladrones, bones

jutting, skin abscessed, discarded bodies.

At your banks, dengue fever swarms, thirsting.

Flowers with basura drift, toxic, silted, rank.

Into your murmuring waters, Rizal’s moon once

spilled his verse, and your whims once swallowed

bridges alive. Now, we sing your dirge, snaking

giant, you who named our fathers’ tongue.

—

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