The poems that fill a teenagers heart
March 20, 2003 | 12:00am
This article is a sequel to last weeks Speaking the Language of the Heart Poetry. Just as Dottoressa Maria Montessori observed that teenagers intelligence wanes and weakens, compared to the enormous reasoning power of the 7s to the 12s, it gives way to emotional maturation and idealistic aspirations. This article contains excerpts of essays and poems that filled a teenagers heart from a book of 97 poems and 13 essays. My husband, Max Soliven, as a teenager wrote this during the war years and "liberation days" between 1941 to 1948. He lived in Sto. Domingo, Ilocos Sur after losing his father Assemblyman Benito Soliven in the Death March. His widowed mother took him and his eight brothers and sisters to their old home in Herran, Paco and found it burned to the ground.
(July 11, 1948, Herran, Manila) |
"If I would have my name endure
Ill write it in the hearts of men "
Corregidor, that last stronghold still holding against the invader was on the verge of being overran. The "Voice of the Freedom" that daily radio broadcast carrying a message of hope from the embattled Rock was on the brink of being snuffed out.
Young Carlos Malonso, not yet seventeen, in Japanese-occupied Manila and his teen-age friends, hatched a wild scheme. They tunneled into one of the many warehouses commandeered by the Japanese, ...spirited away case after case of canned milk and other impounded food. They sold these at the black market and accumulated a war chest which enabled them to procure, in bits and pieces, crude radio transmitting equipment.
Just as the Japanese were swarming all over Corregidor in April 1942, and the "Voice of Freedom" was signing off with its final brave message of farewell, Malonsos homemade transmitter went on the air on the same radio frequency. This mysterious new radio station startled Manilans. Malonso and his youthful Gang of Six called their defiant daily broadcasts "The Voice of Juan de la Cruz"
They carted their guerrilla transmitter from place to place to evade being discovered by the Japanese Finally, the Japanese caught up with them. Malonso had recently married a 16-year old sweetheart Violeta and the couple was asleep in their Paco home when the dreaded Kempetai broke in and seized them. In similar lightning raids the other young fugitives were seized. For months, Malonso and his friends underwent brutality.
I got the story of his final weeks from not just Manny Manahan but Advertising Executive Dindo Gonzales. The heroism of Carlos Malonso would have vanished unnoticed were it not for the fact that Manahan and Gonzales occupied the adjoining cell of the prison. They could hear the Kempetai beating up Malonso while he cried out over and over again. He would not ever recant. A gasping Malonso shouted, "You can not make me give up! If I have to live my life all over again, Id do exactly what I did!"
One of his jailers paid him the highest tribute a Japanese warrior could say of his enemy "He died bravely!"
(September, 1943, Herran, Manila) |
Stone on stone, block on block, stands still the Muralla,
Mute as though the voice had fled from its grim walls.
Those ramparts once flashing with steel
Harkening to the grim thunder of cannonade
Bristling with the lofty banners of España
Stand silent, after over three centuries
Nay, five centuries of grandeur and glory
Sanguinary reminder of haughty Castillian
Domination in the Philippine Isles
Silent canons face the bay
Unspeaking testimonial of a once mighty Spain
Now speechless and unmoving.
Were shouts of "SANTIAGO!" and the frantic VIVAS
Of a once proud dynasty echoed and re-echoed
Is grim forbidding Silence.
Where the tumultuous crash of arms, and the cries of battle
Once resounded
As the knights of Spain defended this Muralla
Against the English Privateers
The rat builds his hole and the cat prowls nightly.
Muralla where is thy glory?
It is gone
(November 1, 1943, Herran, Manila) |
Pray now, my friend pray now, to God,
For there is neither glory, wealth, power of Pride,
Which does not hold an ultimate communion with the sod.
We are ever in the Hand of the Almighty God
Pray now I ask you, pray now and pray for me.
Pray for the world, pray for the sins of Mankind
Pray for unbeliever
And pray, too, for yourself
Pray now! For there is need of prayer
Pray now for the sins of Man are greater than ever
Pray now for sin there is abounding everywhere
Pray now for a world plunged in hate and greed
Pray for your friends, for your families
Pray for light, pray for grace pray for peace
For there is strength in prayer.
Each moment spent in prayer, be it a minute, hour, or day
Alike is a tribute to the Eternal King
One prayer one word of repentance
That springs from the heart from the soul
Shall weigh down the wrong of the world
Upon the scale of Justice shall stand for all Eternity!
This is a silly poem Max made just for fun.
We three Mouseketeers are brave and bold,
We brave the heat, we brave the cold,
And when we steal a very nice cheese,
We are careful to say the words, "If you please."
Each of us has a trusty sword,
And we live in a nice and cozy board,
And when the cat finds our lair
Well cut of that snoopers hair.
Well find the villain in his lair
Well jump on him and muss up his hair
So were three mouseketeers brave and bold,
We brave the heat and also the cold.
Jesus would have enjoyed Boracay and joined surfing competition. He loved the sea and even walked on water. Wouldnt He just love Boracay, Anilao and all the "surf paradise" beaches in the Philippines? If He gets tired barefoot surfing, He could always calm the wind and waves and still put on a show!
Skeptics will try to prove Him a hoax. In this age of science and reason, miracles raise most eyebrows. Jesus will have to get used to skeptical doctors and scientists nosing around His healing sessions. Plus the presence of privacy invading paparazzi and annoying press! Will He throw them out like the vendors at His Fathers temple?
Media moguls will certainly exploit Him. It will be the same old story. Young man makes good, gets discovered, is promised stardom and then exploited. Mass media moguls, talent managers and agents will hound Christ with the trite line, "Ill make you a star!" Will our Hero fall for their promise of fame and fortune?
He will be texting the Beatitudes. Instead of giving the famous Sermon on the Mount, Christ would just be texting the Beatitudes. Technology will make His life and ministry easier. Some bright young people would set up http://jesuschrist.com, so that He can take advantage of e-technology.
He might even end up as an image model. He will have to learn how to sing. Music is the language of the soul. In todays religious ministries, its power is harnessed and put to full use. Jesus will have to learn to sing if He wants His prayer rallies to really rock
(For more information please e-mail at exec@obmontes sori.edu.ph)
ERRATUM: In last weeks column, it was mentioned that Engr. Bong Alterados ailment lingered for two weeks instead of two years.
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