Post by thepoetslizard on Oct 10, 2008 16:03:40 GMT 2
Marra Pl. Lanot
Bio from the Panitikan website
www.panitikan.com.ph/authors/l/mpllanot.htm
and from the WikiPilipinas website
en.wikipilipinas.org/index.phptitle=Marra_PL._Lanot
"Long Before It Begins"
The room brimmed with laughter,
caviar, and wine,
and suddenly music wafted by
and a man from the other table
turned around, and with a twinkle
in his eyes and a ghost of a smile,
walked towards me as I stood up
It is Ole St. Nick
Dahling Nick!
who I thought I lost sunsets
and sunsets ago
and we danced…
“When marimba rhythms start to play
Dance with me, make me sway
Like a lazy ocean hugs the shore
Hold me close, sway me more…”
Like old days in Ermita cafes—
such as When It Is Grey November in Your Soul—
where people went to drink
beer and gin, light a joint
and chat as long as the stars blinked
and we would push chairs and tables aside
and unveil a dance floor
“Like a flower bending in the breeze
Bend with me, sway with ease
When we dance you have a way with me
Stay with me, sway with me…”
But the air was so still
as if listening to an impending typhoon
and I, afraid to encounter whatever,
wake up to the noise of an alarm clock
which bursts the dream
rings in myriad mundane chores
bringing me back
to where there are no
dead men walking
to where earthlings
wrack their brains
with what ifs and what fors
twiddling thumbs
on a rocking chair
dreaming dreams
hesitating, hesitating,
hesitating—
until night falls
and I’m ready to dance forever
“I can hear the sound of violins
Long before it begins
Make me thrill as only you know how
Sway me smooth, sway me now…”
*
"As Evening Falls"
The room vibrates with laughter
of dear acquaintances
who now and then get together
and reminisce hootenanny
nights on the rooftop
bohemian sojourns in the park
games of hide-and-seek
in a haunted house
It’s raining beer
with fond memories
of lost loves
then, suddenly
a song of nostalgia
fills the air
“Caminito que entonces estabas
bordado de trébol y juncos en flor,
trébol
una sombra ya pronto serás
una sombra lo mismo que yo.
“Desde que se fue
triste vivo yo,
caminito amigo
yo también me voy…”
I hear somebody singing with me
I turn around and see
Ole St. Nick
Dahling Nick!
his tenor voice loud and with tremolo
his eyes in youthful ecstasy
his face entranced by poetry
But then, a shaft of sunlight
pierces the room
pricks the dream
which recedes
in the shadow of the moon
I wake up
Ole St. Nick
Dahling Nick
is gone
and the song about two lovers
passing through a garden
ends, but as evening falls
once more the tale begins
“Desde que se fue
triste vivo yo
seguiré sus pasos
caminito, adiós…”
*
"As Above..."
It is that room again
that recurring scene
of song, dance and laughter
of dearest friends
from this world and beyond,
a song is playing—
“Amigos para siempre
Means you’ll always be my friend
Amigos para siempre
Means a love that cannot end
Friends for life
Not just a summer or a spring
Amigos para siempre…”
Never in my wildest dreams
could I have thought
we would meet this way
call it chance
say it’s unplanned
wherein nothing happens
and yet everything happens
the song spills
into my waking hours
and it’s the same moon
on opposite poles that
lights up the darkness
dissipates shadows and loneliness,
the same sun
seen through different windows
that colors this world
of fragile but strong
flowers and butterflies
and ignites the embers at sunset,
fierce but not scorching,
where everything is
constant and changing
slow and fast-moving
We dance while flying
sprinkle our bodies with earth
bathe in the rain
connect across distant stars
and so it is written
as above, so below,
as without, so within.
Web source:
tinyurl.com/5v85ln
