Batu-Batong Langit
ni Abraham de la Torre
Kapag ang gutom tumawid sa yaman
ang hapdi hindi kasingtindi ng
kung ang may dama’y walang kadluan
ng alalay sa hiwatig pa lang.
Subalit kahit mga kawaning
karampot ang kita’y may lungkot din
kung sa gitna ng pagod darating
sa kanilang pugad mga haring
dagdag na abalang di masaway
pagkat hinay nila’y walang bibig.
Sila ang siyang sanhi ng kamayaw
at pagdating ng paghuhumindig
noong may taglay na karapatang
ilagay sa baba nila sila.
Di lang sila moog ng parokya
bukas-palad pa ayon sa kwenta.
Kaya ang galit ay nasa lugar
kung ang hangin ay mag-amoy isda
at isip ay itulak nang lubha
upang muling hanapin ang singaw.
Itinambad ng siyasat pawang
walang katibayang sapat upang
ang malisya ay kunin sa dasal
at iligtas ang puso ng banal.
Sing linaw ng krus na bagong buhay
mula sa pighating walang humpay
hindi sapat mandin ang patawad
bagong hirap sa dusa bababad.
Throwing Stones
by Abraham de la Torre
When hunger strikes the rich it is perceived
the ache is not as palpable as if
the feeler did not have the means or men
to summon at the merest hint of it.
It happens though that even peons hired
to toil for pittances get lonely, too,
when in the throes of labor bullies barge
into their edifice already rent
by irritants they cannot alienate
because their calm is borrowed by their trade.
Their absence causes rifts as when the pang
of whimsy overcomes the visitors
who, by a strange sense of entitlement,
assume the earners are to them beneath.
They are not only pillars of the church
but also generous given receipts.
Therefore the indignation is in place
when something in the air would smell of fish
and push imagination to the hilt
so as to reinvent another witch.
The inquisition bred the innocent
awash with crimes suspected to have led
the hypocrites to swear and genuflect
the sins be saved by God’s forgiving grace.
As certain as the cross gave us rebirth
arising from a life of constant dearth
it doesn’t seem enough that purging blest
the deed. We have to bleed another death.
