Philippine Literature (Literature 102) Poems Moonlight on Manila Bay
(1912)
Fernando M. Maramag A light serene, ethereal glory rests Its beam effulgent on each cresting wave; The silver tousches of the moonlight lave The deep’s bare bosom, that the breeze molests; While lingering whispers deepedn as the wavy crests Roll with weird rhythm, now gay, now gently grave; And flood of lambent light appear the save to pave – All casts a spell that heeds not time’s behests. Not always such the scene: the din of fight Has swelled the murmur of the peaceful air; Here East and West have oft displayed their might; Dark battle clouds have dimmed this scene so fair; Here bold Olympia, one historic night Presaging freedom, claimed a peoples care.
Fernando M. Maramag (1893-1936)
He was born on January 21, 1893 in Ilagan, Isabela, to wealthy parents and landowners Rafael Maramag and Victoria Mamuri, a Spanish mestiza. At a ge 7 he enrolled in a public school in his hometown. He finished his high school in 1908. He was 15 when he entered the Philippine Normal School, however, at the insistence of his father, he transferred to the University of the Philippines. At UP, he started writing fo the school organ. As a brilliant student, he later became its editor-inchief. Among his equally brilliant classmates were Pilar Hidalgo-Lim and Jose Hilario. Together, they managed the school paper. At age 21, he was named principal of the Institute de Manila, a prestigious school for gifted and well-off students. Later, he became an English professor at UP. He also taught at Colegio de San Juan de Letran. During this time, he met and married Constancia Ablaza, by whom he had six children. With his credentials, he started to work in the government as chief of the publications pu blications division of the Department of Justice. L:ater, he became technical assistant to then Senate President Manuel L. Quezon. He passed away on October 23, 1936. In his honor, a marker was installed in his hometown on January 21, 1983.
Pedagogic
Cirilo Bautista I walked towards the falling woods to teach the trees all that I could of time and birth, the language of men, the virtues of hate and loving. The stood with their fingers flaming, listened to me with a serious mien: I knew the footnotes, all the text my words were precise and correct -I was sure that they were learning -till one tree spoke, speaking in dolor, to ask why I never changed color.
Dr. Cirilo F. Bautista, described as a genius in language and imagination by National Artist for Literature (1973) Jose Garcia Villa, is a prolific poet, fictionist, essayist, literary critic and theorist, columnist and educator.
His published books include: The Cave and Other Poems (1968), The Archipelago (1970), Charts (1973), Telex Moon (1981), Sugat ng Salita (1985), Stories (1990), Breaking Signs (1990), Kirot Ng Kataga (1995), Words And Battlefields: A Theoria On The Poem (1998), Sunlight On Broken Stones (2000), The Estrella D. A lfon Anthology Vol. I - Short Stories
(2000), The Trilogy Of Saint Lazarus (2001), Bullets And Roses: The Poetry Of Amado V. Hernandez / A Bilingual Edition (translated Into English and with a Critical Introduction) (2002), Tinik Sa Dila: Isang Katipunan Ng Mga Tula (2003) and Galaw ng Asoge (2004). His works have been reprinted in Romania, Bulgaria, the United States, Hong Kong, China, Holland, Germany, and Malaysia. His epic poem Sunlight on Broken Stones won First Prize in the Epic Category of the Literary Contest sponsored by the National Centennial Commission in 1998.
A Man From the Slums Contemplates His Church Danton S. Remoto The lot is larger than the corner I live in. The baroque doors are thicker than my plywood walls. The candles burn before the frozen saints. Darkness gutters in my house. The chandeliers gleam like tears and the windows glow with colors that will never warm my hut
where the windows have lids of sorrow.
Danton Remoto - Philippine poet. Has worked as Editorial Director at the Office of Research and Publications, Manila University, Staff Writer for The Filipino Observer and more recently, art and culture columnist for the Manila Chronicle. A writer and a poet, his books include Skin Voices Faces : Poems, Ladlad: An Anthology of Philippine Gay Writing and Seduction and Solitude : Essays. He has published seven books of poems and esssays in Manila. He was educated in the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and the United States. He is an Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at the Ateneo de Manila University. His latest book is Pulotgata [Honeymoon]: The Love Poems. He has just won a Philippines Free Press Award for the Short Story .
A Definition of God Rafael Ingles My God fills the gap in the ugliness of the human face: This God searches, and makes His home not in places Pure and holy, but in isolated caves where Forlorn sinners have found iniquity a fickle master. He comes uninvited Man’s craftiness He matches with candor; Man’s earthly passion He matches with the benign Glow of onmipresence. When I am most good He can not be found for He and I lose Our identity. How else can the human face Assume the perfect configuration? My God moves in when all else have fled: Like the wind, He stirs wilted leaves to life a nd makes The plant more vibrant. He suffuses desolate landscapes With the barely perceptible warmth that shuns The stunted body to find haven in the mind. Yet His too is the willingnness of the Universe. His power is unobtrusive till He seems no farther from Myself than me, no farther from yourself than you – Where I discover my faults, there He is Waiting to make amends. God is as human as economics or mathematics. He Is supply and demand, or the algebraic equation which
In the final analysis is naught equals naught. Within the geometry of love, my God reigns; Where the spheroid whirls He is the vortex Without beginning, without end. My God worships me not merely At times of peace nor in the exclusive ways Of the church. My God worships Me, or else He would not have conceived Himself to atone for my imperfect self; He comes uninvited, He is everywhere Making amends, making amends.
Raul Rafael Ingles (AB’52; MPA’56) - University of the Philippines p rofessor emeritus and former president of the UP Writers Club.
