Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Great Awakening

Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday
Artist at Camp Sampaguita, Muntinlupa, Rizal

Great Awakening

I woke up on the wrong side of bed one sunrise
And opened the wrong door, the backdoor;

Saw my banana plants cut down by my neighbor,
And I, in anger, cut him down in reprise.

This is my life at the other side of midnight,
In a penitentiary for ten years or so
Recreating the life that I failed to do
Behind bars, training afar my sight.

How can I paint life I didn't live up with?
Take it from Van Gogh, or Rembrandt,
Masters of art, yet to the world, servants;
Humble in recluse, fully they had lived.

I want to be remembered, he told me,
Even only by my wife, my little ones I left;
But what heritage awaits a convict bereft
Of freedom, honor and dignity?

Through the bars he saw birds flying high,
Through the bars came the sun and the moon;
Clouds in many faces rolled on and on
And many an angel came passing by.

Give me a brush and paint, a bit of the sun,
He asked, thereupon a new dawn fell on him.
Days and nights grew longer it seemed
Til man, heaven and earth became one.

In his painting people called each other brethren,
Singing hymns of hope and compassion,
Of man striving at each life's station,
On the road to salvation and Heaven.

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