poem 17m

Nakilala ko siya sa pagsasama ng alaala, sa gitna ng umaga na tila'y tadhana.

'Di ko hinanap ang ngiti ng tulad niya, o ng gandang 'ngalan siya, ngunit, ayan na:

Sa munting pag-usap, sa muntikang pagtagpo, sa muling pag-usbong sa pagsalubong ng tala,

Biningi ang isip sa pusong lamig; pagtinging pinagkamalang pag-ibig sa pag-asang inakalang matagalang ligaya.

Test of Fates

To whom should my love be given?

The clouds give hint to this, I pray.

For the days of sweet youth shall end

Without thought, I fear what to say.

Bounded by dreams I do not own

Save for friends; passions that give hope.

The path I've chosen, as I've known,

Gives no joy to those who can't cope.

Of Work and Distractions

As I lay here believing mistruths I myself had conjured

That this visage of success arises; in ashes I see:

No reprieve in wastes, in this or that to which I ruptured

In believing, that my dreams will take flight in effortless glee.

To work I say to it: come, capture me with lenses that focus

On goals to which burdened me with no joy to be found,

Possess my mind and take what fate has planned to loose

And knot my heart to learn, a job I'm forever bound.

To The Man I Married by Angela Manalang-Gloria (Filipino Translation and Analysis )

A Philippine Literature course activity, translating the poem: To The Man I Married.

The instructions didn't include adding a meter; only rhymes were necessary. However, I went ahead and gave my translation both rhyme and meter. 
(I do not claim ownership of the poem "To The Man I Married")

Original:

TO THE MAN I MARRIED

by Angela Manalang-Gloria

I

You are my earth and all the earth implies:

The gravity that ballasts me in space,

The air I breathe, the land that stills my cries

For food and shelter against devouring days.

You are the earth whose orbit marks my way

And sets my north and south, my east and west,

You are the final, elemented clay

The driven heart must turn to for its rest.

If in your arms that hold me now so near

I lift my keening thoughts to Helicon

As trees long rooted to the earth uprear

Their quickening leaves and flowers to the sun,

You who are earth, O never doubt that I

Need you no less because I need the sky!

Poem 17

No meter but with rhymes. 

I don't know what kind of poem to call this and I won't pretend to know.

 It's just a poem I wrote that I thought I'd show.

It seems that everyday that I come in and see you

I feel like I can't speak, looking through your clear eyes.

Even though I can feel coldness when you knew,

With the decision you made, I can only respect and realize.
In this I wish for you to stay forever alive and not in vain, 

For to me, you're more remarkable than what others see, 

Even when you'd think a glimpse is what you may attain, 

You've changed a lot in me, for that, you mean more to me.

Verse I

Even when I knew what to say, to think, to act
I always fall short of what I dreamt, felt and thought
Wishing myself having in others what I lack
Thinking that love'll come when I find what my mind sought.

Sweet Lies

"Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence"

–H.L. Mencken

SWEET LIES always mask the bitter truth. Whether in life or in love, the truth isn’t always as appealing as the lies in which our thoughts comfort ourselves. But lies, as to their nature, do not last long; a tower stacked without cement: it hides its weakness with the façade of height and magnificence. Sooner or later, lies will crumble underneath its own foundation. Why, then, do we drown ourselves with the fleeting lies our thoughts make up? Why, then, do we choose to live in ignorance of these lies? The answer

Literature: The Radical and Subversive Gear of History

What drives remarkable men and women in history? If history is the study and recording of the changes that occur in human civilization, it would be sensible to say that these people are those that initiated change whether of positive or negative inclinations.

Between Night and Day

When twilight enters the realm of a man who was once called upon as a child, his surroundings slowly become withered, gray and nostalgic. Memories are his only comfort in the world where his actions no longer become as exciting or important as it was once. Love becomes his one joy and family becomes most important in his life.

Two Selections

While taking the English sub-test of the N.A.T., I read two interesting selections from two separate questions that I've pondered on:

The first tackled the idea of Happiness.