Selected Poems by Maningning Miclat

To Catch a Second and Turn it to Forever
by Maningning Miclat

Give me another chance

So I can count the rose petals,
Let me watch the raindrops fall (on to eyeglasses),
While I sing, while I scream.

Grant me another day
Let me wait for its return,
Let me squeeze into a bus to follow.
Let me guess. Let me think.

Grant me another second.
Let me muddle through.
So I can catch that second,
And turn it to forever.

The raindrops will fall on the ground.
The crowd will disperse.
Every question will have an answer.
Forever will not stay.

Time is running out.
My heart is throbbing.
Waiting for a response.
Waiting for it to become.

So grant me another second,
I will catch up with it,
I will lock it in my heart,
And turn it to forever.

Laughter
by Maningning Miclat

He left me
when he could
no longer stand the laughter

that I gave him
while he begged me not
to keep memories

 alive in poems
to hurt myself
and make those
who read

sad. I laughed
 when he shared
his life with me
while holding him

to make it easier
and maybe
less painful
 to live on.

 Laugh! I told
 him, but
 could not get
his attention.

Laugh! I asked
 him, but
he left in
 anger.

And left
before he understood
the courage
that held my laughter

Testimony
by Maningning Miclat

The territory of shadows is a petal,
An organic wish, a solidified thought,
An awareness of wind catching fishes,
A gratitude for getting rid of clothes.

With the kind gesture of an evening: low tide and safe,
I am sharing the water with the Hundred Islands.
Floating on the galaxies' reflection,
I float as night sky carves down an embrace,
an elusive feeling of eternity and floating,
a gesture of wind and a bath of moonlight
from the sea bottom. I am the salt in the evening.
I am the celebration of beginning.
I, finally getting rid of my clothes.
I, weightless, without knowing what.
Between the sky and me is the wind.

There is an ageless consciousness of being a woman.
There is a shapeless idea of being in the water.
There is a testimony of the sky and the earth.
There is no longer the terrestrial truth,
I am no longer a victim of war.

Father and I
by Maningning Miclat

The leaves are shaking,
"Look. It's the wind!"
You said, " No, those are leaves.
Wind cannot be seen."

Snowflakes whirl down
- An emblem of purity.
You said, " No, it is deception.
It is here to cloak the filth."

A lovely object
Took my fancy.
You said, "It's Useless."

I haven't walked too far,
But I am feeling tired.
Let me rest by the path for a while.

When the wind blows, I feel it.
When snow swirls down, I see it.
The lovely object I hold in my hand.

 Berso # 2
by Maningning Miclat

Dumaan ako sa tahimik na ilog,
Ang buong mundo ay parang natutulog
Kung may bunga mang sa tubig ay mahulog
Parang ang puso ko itong nadudurog.

Kung mag-isa ako huwag nang isipin
Sa dilim ay dapat pa akong hanapin
Habang may luha ay huwag pang ibigin
Sa pangarap ko ay huwag nang gisingin.

Kaya kong maghintay sa mga tula mo
Marinig sa awit ng kabilang dako
At tuklasin sa paglalakad na ito
Hamog at luha ng bulaklak at damo.

Mapapanood ang sayaw ng tutubi
Mapapakinggan ang ibong humuhun
iHihinahon ang pusong di mapakali
At hihimlay na sa mapayapang gabi.

Dumaan ako sa tahimik na ilog,
Ang buong mundo ay parang natutulog
Kung may bunga mang sa tubig ay nahulog
Parang ang puso ko nga itong nadudurog.

 

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love and The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd

The  first poem is written in 1599 and the second poem, which is a reply to the first is written in 1600.

The Passionate Shepherd to his Love
by: Christopher Marlowe

Come live with me, and be my love,

And we will all the pleasures prove

That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,

Woods, or steepy mountain yields.

 

And we will sit upon rocks,

Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,

By shallow rivers, to whose falls

Melodious birds sing madrigals.

 

And I will make thee beds of roses

And a thousand fragrant posies,

A cap of flowers, and a kirtle,

Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle.

 

A gown made of the finest wool

Which from our pretty lambs we pull,

Fair lined slippers for the cold,

With buckles of the purest gold.

 

A belt of straw and ivy buds,

With coral clasps and amber studs,

And if these pleasures may thee move,

Come live with me, and be my love.

 

The shepherd swains shall dance and sing

For thy delight each May morning.

If these delights thy mind may move,

Then live with me, and be my love.

The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd
by Sir Walter Raleigh

If all the world and love were young,

And truth in every Shepherd’s tongue,

These pretty pleasures might me move,

To live with thee, and be thy love.

 

Time drives the flocks from field to fold,

When Rivers rage and Rocks grow cold,

And Philomel becometh dumb,

The rest complains of cares to come.

 

The flowers do fade, and wanton fields,

To wayward winter reckoning yields,

A honey tongue, a heart of gall,

Is fancy’s spring, but sorrow’s fall.

 

Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of Roses,

Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies

Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten:

In folly ripe, in reason rotten.

 

Thy belt of straw and Ivy buds,

The Coral clasps and amber studs,

All these in me no means can move

To come to thee and be thy love.

 

But could youth last, and love still breed,

Had joys no date, nor age no need,

Then these delights my mind might move

To live with thee, and be thy love.