Meeting: post-invasion (Poem)

Title

Language

English

Year

1945

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

A. CASAJE OPTICAL CO. Optomet1-ist•Opticia,n Eyes Examined-Glass Fitted 1280 Azcarraga, Near Magdalena Come and Dine at ... PRINCE RESTAURANT We serve American & Chinese Foods, & Ice Cold Drinks Excelleflt Dishes - Courteous Service and Sanitary Life Bldg., 527 Quezon Ave. ;-=I e I I I I I I I I I The MODERN CITY LUNCH The rendezvous .of sailors, sol· diers and merchant marines of· fers 'soft music, fine foods and ' drinks· Doors open to public , from 8 =~ A~ M. to-10 :30 P. M. 501-509 Dasminiiias Come and ~ne at The CALIFORNIAN llestaarant I& Bar We serve American & Chinese Dishes ® Wine11, Liquors & Soft Drinks Reasonable· Rates, . Courteous Service I& Excellent Cuisine 1017 Rizal .Ave. Let ua meet at the ROSARIO RESTAURANT • 84-38 Rosario (near Biiiondo Church) Where Food-Connoisseurs CLEAN-COOL-SPACIOUS Chinese and American Dishes by the former chef of the famed .Cosmos Club Our growing cuatomers testify satlsfactlOn I ~EEX!NQ:Ec!!!1 ·Invasion I' People of tA~· Philippines! I e.onw to you from distant lands; froni the gray, silent ak1Jlines o; America wliich spell a nation at war and 'Jlet at peace, a haven sheltered f1·om the drl!ad of c<mfMct from all its horrors bu.t the horror of surging emotions, oi tears and fruitless longing; f1·om the steaming wilderness, I e.ome, froni loneliness in an ancient jungle, the f orsnken shore~ of slumbering isles, the lnnds of malaria, dengue, and f)rimiti11e gra:uea. . . In n laTger sense I com6 to 3101& from peacefuJ, towns built on f ~'l'til.e soil, the surge and turmoil of grea.t cities. the sc1t.ools and shopa, f actariel 6elcking forth. black smoke, traina passing a.t immoderate spf!ed, • the ice C'l'ea.m store on the corne-r, the immignint nezt door. and teen-age girls SC'l'ea.ming at Framk Sina,tf'O,, I come to 11ou with. a. pack on ni11 back . containing a blanket, ut1dorwear, soap a.nd rcuor, messkit, tent;a,ge, socks, a~ a lsttfl'. f ond/,y preserved and nmembend. ... In my lands I hold al ri/N, _.., M-l, with. one deadl'll routld in ~- ckatnber. eight in the clip, and eigli.f71'1i11hti in the rifle belt. I wear a lfl"een uniform, dud-staiud and dirty. soiled, uncomfortable sltoee. I come to you with all tAu; and I am tald that I am flOUr libeNtor, the proud warrior and 'f1ictor, the immaculate co1squeTor.' And you co?ne to me, People of the PkilipPines. From the tall, f orbUUing Ail.le f/OIAI CMIW, barefoot and haggard, · your eyes ezpressing some strange fright and yow kanl.s st""ining for altn&e. 011erco'lliing the pride in your It.tarts • Y cm come from til&e unpainted liouaJa, the aqiled Nipa h'Ufa, the dark, clt.eerlen dwellings where 1/01' iat in unUgJr.ted nights and f~r-/illed da'l/B, waiting, waiting, hopi"# despairing.• ,You. oome from the 'N11Gl•d citi.., blood and sficln1ation, the in11adw's ,oke, the beast's eziatenoe, and the dUll eyes t"1"1L'fld 8outll.wanl. ·The NATION containings a lost kome, a trampled field, You come to me with. the burden of years in your hearts, containing a lost home, a trampled field, the soreams of a loved one, amd the f.00,r of de~. You are burdened as I am burdened, but the load is great and cannot be placed aside for a rest and a moment's lingieri.ng. You come to me thus; and I .am told that you are itke conquered, the outraged and oppressed, the dependent, the· silent sufferers. Wkat skall be our meeting-place, People of the Philippines, we who come to each otkerl Is the116 s-0me common ground, some common earth without demarkation for oppressed and victorious a.like? ls there some peaceful plot where I may lay down my pack and you., yom· bm·den and we may commune and understand, and, understanaing, beconie one? Or shall we always be worlds apa.rtthe itouched and untouched the 1-ich a'nd poor, the careless and careworn:/ You have 8l6en. me stre(Zming. victO'riously <m,to your shores -41.nd I have seen you drifting from master to master and I know one thing beyond our separate burdens, beyond the gulf, be4ween · al'l'iis' and tke giooY. -we are alike and the same i'n many and mio~t important ways, F~m your eyes, /1·om your sorrows, flow tears; I too have wept-in tke si&J.n.t nights when remembrance awakens, at the grave where I btiried a comrade. in the warrior's lonelinesa, my tears have flown. In yoitr hearlB, your expressions, there' ill longing; I too have longed.... · And in your uplifted faces there is hope; I too have hope/or 1thc peaceful night by the fire, lhe soothing touch of a loved one, for the 11u11S<et, the snow, the falling leaves, my hea1·t has longed. - for the return to the threshold, tke growing harvest~ man rising above his destruction. for frwi,tful labor in a fairer world I wait and hope. This is too earth on. which to build our common world; these are. the _materials to build it. to temper axd mol.d it, and such shall be its bases tears, longing and hope and tAe will of free man to 'rise and attain, .to construct and keep, on thi6 shattered earth· of 1i8 11.ome and -Ma.rt. I JULY; i945

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