Princess Urduja to the Arab [poem]

Media

Part of Philippine Review

Title: Princess Urduja to the Arab [poem]
Creator: Canlas, Pacifico M.
Language: English
Year: 1944
Rights
Fulltext: 44 Ph il ippin e Re v ie w December Princess Urduja to the. Arab By PACIFICO M. CANLAS I would still wish those boundless jays were lost to me; Those slaves of yours black and powerful Bearing gold upon their shoulders Your jewels sparkling on your shimmering robes Fleet camels trekking miles of golden sands Dusky footmen wielding sharp Damascan blades I shall not learn to love these. I still refuse your desert air Perfumed by floaters fragrant on your palms Your silvered music flutes playing atop mosaic domes Shall never win my virgin heart. Could I leave these, these lovely isles Which like my soul are virgin still? These mountains blue and silent shall be mine My bamboos whispering above my purling brooks The break of day upon my forest hills, the vagrant, call of woods My stalwart trees noisy with homing mayas I shall not leave-these for Arabian sands. Your perfumes? I have my “kampuput” blooms, my dimpling "sampagvitas ' Drooping “Hang-Hangs” magic to the morning air Singing rivers fragrant with fallen leaves in J^une I shall thirst for dew glistening—upon banana leaves. Black slaves? Your sleek Damascan swords? J have my lordly Maharlikas, more powerful than blacks Men fierce at war, spears sharper than Damascan blades Men, singing sad kundimans to the Crescent moon Men gathering white rice and camote roots From my brown earth’s bosom. Could 1 crave more for Arab chieftain braves Drifted to my shores by Forttines fickle waves? Upon these isles a virgin 1 was born Till living out my years, a virgin 1 must die.