The death of the brown child [poem]

Title

Creator

Maglalang, D. M.

Language

English

Year

1959

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

/'inf; clouds across the heaven, oh sweep them with the breath of the night-wind and let them wind-lashed riven in lightning cry the tears of death! fall, rain of tears, fall on the dusky plain and on a lonely hill, cry the tears the bitter tears on a heart that is sad and still! for the brown child is dead! for the soft voice of the brown child is gone, the face of the brown child has vanished with the vanished sun! sing on, sing your fearful song of triumph, fearful monster of death, wave the trophy of his breath to the four winds! fly if with the dread and fearful cry the brown child is dead! while a desolate mound of earth is swirling with the leaves and the wind and the heaving quiet of twilight is shaken in the thunder's din, i clutch a phantom cross i clutch it bleak against the sky sobbing crying within me a lone and tearful cry! yet i stand and ask: why must these terrors be? why bask in abandon these mighty powers, these powers wild and free? i loved him: now he is gone, he loved life: now it is done, is love a curse, a phantom blight in the heart of things? whither, tel! me, powers- of heaven, whither fled its vaunted ■might? what do i remember? ah, drive me, shrieking winds and streaks of fire, drive me on the wings of memory let me fee! the searing embers of the brown child's agony! sweep them across the earth to scorch earth’s frozen den awaken with their living warmth the frozen chilling hearts of men! so his finger wrought in fiery strokes streaking through the breadth and length of the land a masterwork of propletic light mightier than sword or fairy's wand! reached there a heart farther than his embracing all that is far and near it, farther than all the shores of oceans and seas: the shoreless realms of the human spirit! love is all embracing and rules no one alone if goes beyond itself and calls all things its own! the brown child loved this world of god the brown child loved each little bird and cried for each falling tree he cried for each bleeding breast he cried for all humanity! let them live, his heart cried out, let them dauntless trace their lives in timeless patterns for i have seen death's face! go you, young man, cried he pointing to the earth, this be the heritage of your birth! life beckons, live it! fight time and death for what they are worth! he saw in the youth life’s bursting seed to sprout one day and bloom, the youth by noble word and nobler deed shall conquer the darkness and pierce the gloom! ‘Poetry 3T CUE E'ROWT! CJilE© this teas his mighty faith this was his deathless dream with a mightier love he led us taught us Io follow, oh follow the gleam! ah gentle voice, we still are far, what cause have we to rise and rejoice we have not touched as yet a star! give us but a spark of your fire and a string of your fallen lyre and we shall soar, oh soar to the stars on the wings of your desire! yea, let me rise and face the desolate night, i shall chant to the east a vibrant hymn Io tell of the approaching flight of darkness and brooding phantoms dim! the clouds are flung across the sky the lightnings in maddened fury flare i hear the thunder’s echoing cry smite full high the smitten air! but yet i stand — the hymn now ceaseless beating rises from the depths of the sodden earth a hymn of triumph of love and life and a soul’s rebirth! he is dead! he is dead! sing still this mad refrain, fearful monster of death, though hold you now in thrall the brown child’s breath and you shall sing it but in vain! turn his bones to mud and mire, and turn to dust his soundless lyre but touch not, touch not his spirit’s immortal fire! so yet the brown child lives and all is said • Am Zlcgy • but why cry yet a lonely heart the brown child is not dead! but still fall on, fall, rain of tears fall on the dusky hill oh moisten with your cooling drops the grave of him that is dead and still so a seed shall bloom one far-off twilight hour and ’neath the twilight sky shall grow a lonely flower! the fragrant scent shall fill the hills and fields and all the earth, and all the seas and lakes and plains shall sing triumphant love’s rebirth! bursting the petals shall chant a song and all the skies shall hear it, and all the far-flung starry throng: the flower is the brown child’s spirit! the storm is past, the night is come the night-birds circling above the tree-tops fly and swing and sail in gentle motion then, twitter shrill their evening cry! i stand by the lonely cross i keep a vigil by the lonely hill, my passions spent, i natch serene the grave, i watch it calm and still! i whisper with the night-wind, stay yet, child of the earth, oh stay, stay through the dreary watches of the night till the shadows’ flight shall usher in the day! bij © 03 03aglalang

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