Declaration of the free [poem]

Title

Language

English

Source

The Cabletow III (3) January 1961

Year

1961

Subject

Philippine poetry (English)

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

The statement “Congress shall make no law respecting an establish ment of religion or prohibiting the tree exercise thereof ...” was add ed to be sure that no one religion would be forced upon the people and that the slate would not keep a man front worshipping as he felt he should. To be true to the Consti tution and to Masonry we must treat all religions alike. Therefore, we must join the writers of the Bill of Rights and use as our slogan "The Separation of Religion and State.” This brings us to our third point: the State. The State is to provide orderly and just government for all its citizens. The State is not to con trol, dictate, establish, or prohibit the free exercise or religion. Nor it reli gion to control or dictate to the State. May we ever remember, while it is good that the State should not con trol religion and religion should not control the State, let us not forget that God should control both. Ed. Note. The foregoing article is reprinted from The New Age. November 1960, pp. 29 & 30. In the Free Press, December 3, 1960, pp. 22 & 24, Diokno Manlavi writes an account of the estab lishment of the Republic of Lucbuan, near Cuyo, Palawan, in 1899. The petite, short-livd republic was cstabli-he-’ by Don Casiano Padon, a native cf Molo, Iloilo, who was its first and only pres ident. His purpose was to have a gov ernment completely free from Spain, the Philinirne renubFc <>p Aguiraldo. and the United States. All went well in the government until Padon decided to have his "republic” build a church which was opposed by the legislature and the people. So strong was the opposition that Padon fled with his fa mily tn Iloilo and thus, for the second t:mc. the attempt to ioin the Church and the State in the Philippines was frust rated. It will be recalled that when the Malolo' Constitution was framed in 1897, the delegates voted to have sepa ration. DECLARATION OF THE FREE We have no falsehood to defend, We want the facts; Our force, our thought, we do not spend In vain attacks. And we will never try To save fair and pleasing lie. The simple truth is what we ask, Not the ideal; We have set ourselves the noble task To find the real. If all there is, is naught but dress We want to know and hear our loss. We will not willingly be fooled, By fables nursed; Our hearts, by earnest thought, are schooled To bear the worst. And we can stand erect and dare All things, all facts, that really are. Wo have no god to serve or fear, No hell to shun, No devil with malicious leer. When life is done, An endless sleep may close our eyes A sleep with neither dreams nor sighs. We have no master on the land— No King in air— Without a monocle we stand With a prayer, but Without a fear of coming night, Wo seek the truth, we love the light. We do not bow before a guess, A vague unknown; A senseless force we do not bless In solemn tone. Wheri evil comes wo do not curse Or thank because it is no worse. When cyclones rend—when lightning blights, T’is naught but fate; There is no God of wrath Who smites In heartless hate. Behind the things that injure man There is no purpose, thought or plan. We waste no time in useless dread, In trembling fear; 71 The present lives, the past is dead And we are here All welcome guests at life’s great feast— We need no help from ghost or priest. Our life is joyous, jocund, free— Not one a slave Who bends in fear the trembling knee And seeks to save A coward soul future pain; Not one will cringe or crawl for gain. Tho jeweled cup of love we drain, And friendship’s wine Now swiftly flows in every vein With warmth divine. And so we love and hope and dream That in death’s sky there is a gleam. We walk according to our light, Pursue the path That leads to honor’s stainless height; Careless of wrath, Or course of God, or priestly spite, Longing to know and do the right. We have our fellowmen, our kind— Wife, child and friend; To phantoms we are deaf and blind, But we extend The helping hand to the distressed, By lifting others we are blessed. Love’s sacred flame within the heart And friendship’s glow While all the miracles of art Their wealth bestow Upon the thrilled and joyous brain And present raptures banish pain. We love no phantoms of the skies But living flesh, With passion’s soft and soulful eyes, Lips warm and fresh, And cheeks with health’s red flag un furled, The breathing angels of this world. The hands that help are better far Than lips that pray. Love is the ever gleaming star That leads the way, That shines, not on vague worlds of bliss, But on a paradise in this. We do not pary, or weep, or wail; We have no dread, No fear to pass beyond the veil That hides the dead. And yet we question, dream and guess But knowledge we do not possess. We ask, yet nothing seems to know, We cry in vain. There is no "Master of tho Show’’ Who will explain, Or from the future tear the mask; And yet wo dream and still we ask. Is there beyond the silent night An endless day? Is death a door that leads to light? We cannot say. The tongueless secret locked in fate We do not know.—We hope and wait. — Anon. Let no man question your integrity for to do so would be tantamount to questioning your existence. Honor comes first place first and no more. —Anonymous 72 THE CABLE TOW January, 1961

pages

71-72

Media