(for James Balao) <br /> <br />I keep looking toward an open door <br /> <br />One night I saw your vivid silhouette <br />I gingerly reached for it as it crystallized <br /> into a figment of my constant imagination <br />Must you know about the muffled cries <br />That punctuate the serenity of night <br />Or the darkness of promise set against <br />The backdropp of daylight? <br />Your sick mother sits in her wheelchair <br />Oblivious to your disappearance <br />She keeps asking you to scratch her back <br /> <br />Sometimes, hope looms large <br />In the prayers of the multitude- <br />The peasants, students, lawyers, <br />Teachers, workers, friends <br />Searching every corner for you <br />But the torrent of angry typhoons <br />Dissolves hope so tenuous in its tears <br /> <br />Yesterday, the sun was shining bright <br />Your friends came. We brewed rice wine <br />In your grandfather’s prized Ming jar <br />Our ancestors drank tapuy to celebrate <br />The old rice is very red, almost violet- <br /> the ones from Kalinga you always liked <br />We looked at your old photos, writings <br />Remembered your words, your passions <br />Your love for truth, justice, equity, honor <br /> <br />Alas, I woke up this morning <br />To the sound of strong rain hammering on the roof <br />Droplets of rain are wetting our creaking floor <br />From the hole you did not patch last month <br />You missed that or planned to patch it later? <br />I sit by the window hoping the rain peters out <br />And sunshine crawls its way inside your room <br />The radio just announced that six miners <br />Trapped inside tunnels gave up the ghost <br />But ten conquered death, shaming the typhoon <br /> <br />A lot of work still needs to be done <br />My son, the door you left without a word is open <br />It will remain open until you return. <br /> <br />(James Balao, a Filipino activist for the defense of life and ancestral lands of the indigenous peoples disappeared on 17 Sept.2008. His mother is bedridden and his father has embarked on a difficult search mission with other activists and concerned sectors.)<br /><br />Cheryl L. DaytecYañgot<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/open-door-7/
