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Fourteen

Dawn sky
And dew-wet fields!
And I, blithe Princess, sparkling and skipping
In the song of trees breathing the wind,
In flutings of crickets dappled with leaves,
And flowers tripping the green-grass hills.

Spring joy
In the carefree air!
Now, my singing arms stretched to the sun
Part the bending grass in the winnowing wind,
Down the brook's edge, cool-shaded by kupang trees,
Toes wriggle and laugh on wet pebbles and shifting sand.

O heart
Dripping with sunset tears!
Why cry for the lone bird circling the gold?
Or silhouettes of trees impaled on goodbyes?
At day's end, God, let me hold the chalice...
Brimming and bubbling with fourteen again!

Oriental Madonna

Sonnet To A Philippine Urn

Morning At Laguna De Bay

Night of the Aswang

Ferris Wheel

Intrusion

Telephone Conversation

Ing Balen Cung Bamban

The Sibal Family History In the nineteenth century, in the southern tip of Tarlac province in Luzon, Philippines, a dozen siblings came from the province of Pampanga and founded the town of Bamban.The siblings were surnamed Sibal and consisted of eleven brothers and one sister who married a Maristela man. The Sibal brothers called this place Bamban because of the smooth, thornless bamboo that grew in large clumps and the name of this bamboo is “bamban.” The place was very fertile for fields of rice and sugar cane and all kinds of fruit trees. It was very near the foothills of the large chain of Sierra madre mountains where abound hardwood trees of narra, lauan, wild animals such as deer, wild boars and all kinds of flora and fauna. The mountains were on the western side of Bamban, while on the southern side ran a river that teemed with fish. On the banks of this river called Parua, there were stones and sparkling sand brought by the current. The bank of the river was a forest full of pine trees (Pinus insularis) and the wind whistled its song through their boughs. At that time, Bamban was a veritable paradise. more>>