The Triumph of the Cross [poem]

Title

Creator

Patalinjug, Ricardo I.

Language

English

Year

1965

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

He is a willing slave al her command Even if a thousand lightnings are at hand Wifely dominance! Now is the time, her queenly persuasion reigns Her final choice must not be ignored Lest he shall find her less adored She persuades Humabon her king and husband Liketh sound of the waters of a virgin spring Her voice seems to sing Pinangga, hinigugma (My dearest beloved) She sweetly pleads Let us submit ourselves Io them Surely their God must be the (rue one I'or (hey have come from a far distant land Their clothes are far superior Their looks compassionate and their voices sweet to hear Strange benevolence! For she saw The Little Black Child Regal looking like a king from a shovel filled with filth While she was on her promenade Along the shores the shores of which she was fond That low hut on the sand. She felt compassion and great joy Upon beholding Heaven’s King — Boy. He was God, she was told The early sunlight of that pleasant day Seem to blink and blink with naughty joy The heavens too and all For ne’er has a king of that kingdom in the orient seas yielded to a stranger If not of his wife’s great wonder Over the tiny black child which filled her with such surrender By the shadow of the cross Young Humabon brave and strong King of Cebu, ancient city of the east, Came with a sudden glaze of glory in his face As the white shore stood ready to embrace the tender lashing waves Maddening quietness! On a mantle white laid upon a Persian rug Knelt the tawny haughty ruler Beside his graceful dark and lovely partner The sacred water dripped as the Castilian friar blessed them with a rod-like whip Juana is her new name, queen of Cebu As the dear father pours the holy water The slender liny queen raised her eyes heavenward with a pray’r God, Lord, bless all my people May faith continue Io grow upon our land Cntil there are no stars and moon in the sky I util the sun shall come back no more Io die Ry Veneranda Abiegana ^ke ^ciumpk of (ke Cross by Ricardo I. Patalinjay PR6LOGO Now we have Io pause for a while. Come, help me dig the loam of time The history of Humabon’s reign And Magellan’s arrival And let us trace back the germ Of our Christian ancestry nascent from lime primeval. CANC16N 1. And on the shining edge of day On the threshold of an island Peopled with pagans who walked like Brave brown gods The strangers landed. And the bold Captain spoke: “Lay down the sword! Come, plant the Cross! Let this be The living symbol of our achievement. Henceforth the world will know That we have conquered the Orient For Christ and for the Crown! Pigafetta, record this in your book. Write down in bold letters what we Have done today. Ah, the future Generation will ponder over this And will exclaim: “They are agents Of God. We have proof! This Cannot be destroyed by the elements. For in this Cross runs the living Blood of our living God!” And in the trembling flames of the tribal fire And in the grieving rhythm of the agonys The natives knelt and were unmired While they sang the cleansing songs! And the ancient dreams of the pagan gods The hallucination of primeval sods Grisly as nightmares; dark as nights Perished at the fool of the Cross! Thus they had come as saviours Their precious gift the light of faith They taught the hearts to love and give Instead of breeding fear and hale And the soul to seek purgation In eternity’s bold dimension! That was the genesis of our creed Eructed from the tattered womb of the years A crude pattern of odds and ends A concoction of faith and flames! Page Forty THE CAROLINIAN March-April, 1965 ^ke jealous ^eacl by c. y. enge 3. The present self is very bold A being with a fearless shadow Its endless pursuit of a spiritual hold Rips through the gloom of the Immense structures of the years. Slices the subterranean tombs The cathedrals of the weeping bones And labelled the spectrum of sombre Still life Whispering in hushed refrain The evanescent dreams of the stubborn gods! Now we live with the movements Of eternity’s heavenly hymns Replete with thankful prayers To the Divine Shepherd of all times And like meek lambs we follow Him For He leads us to a pasture forever green. And this is but an obvious manifestation Of the triumph of the Holy Cross This is but an obvious manifestation Of the triumph of the Holy Cross! Q.00A ^Jciclay by ricardo de la i lva on the brink of despair my life hangs limp. alone, alone with the beating of my heart i bleed: loneliness gnaws at my mangled existence. frantic i search for god! for his face is hidden from me. to the man at my left i turn my head, “remember me,” my crushed lips utter in plea. he replies: “come, stay with me in paradise.” before the early courts did once proclaim across the calm without a single lane to give what chanced-upon a Christian name beyond the calm commerce was not profane: though it was without a heavenly name: the age was golden as the natural rains and lovely the living and the dying abed hills of rock and grass, surviving clinging as shell to pearl with love and hale clinging in jealous guard o’er heaven’s gate though heaven was where then a nameless state. the proud beneficiaries of that age who have brightened from the long bonded cage long since in curious alien wonder gazed at galleons emerging to solicit rage have learned from philip to see without haze. it could have been a day of great rejoice with less foreplay of many a great noise Io heal wounded continent beyond physical boundaries of Chinese land: such task began in fifteen-twentv-one the mustard did grow in fifteen-sixty-five four and forty years of struggle and flight till today from galilee seed to tree of enduring oak—foe to heresy — there is no nobler end to nobler intent an edenward quest without fiscal end. ged is unprecedented who is wise a shiver of wind, in various device of sea-life like fish, and land-wealth like rice a symbol in fifteen-sixty-eight of fruit no more in silence enjoyed when isabel—niece of datu tupaz with legaspi’s man sacrainented love enjoying earth in the domain of god the abolition of liinasawa where before the mass of valderama this and where more in ignorant content come in conscious strife sans conscious contempt who has ever hoped is hoped still for man neither he nor his laws could prevent the prime reason of thing, the evely plan nor cause such a jealous cause to be rent. commerce in god’s oriental marketplace beams busy with his unseen effectual face in ecumenic earthly phase it seems a realization of catholic dreams theirs and ours, all the lovely jealous pearls have seen, held the hour in unison — dear. March-April, 1965 THE CAROLINIAN Page Forty-one

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