By Luis G. Dato
Here where the wind is friendly,
And candid as the day,
Here where to breathe is freedom,
Here for a while let me stray.
Here where to dream is heaven,
Here where all hate disappears,
Here, for a while I remove me,
Far from my tyranny’s tears.
Away from the roar of cities,
That points to the road that is death,
Away from the useless striving,
Where treason outcombats faith.
Here, where the plain outreaches
Unto the outmost sky,
And earth and heaven blending,
We unremember to sigh.
Here where the greensward sprouting,
Erases the drops of war’s blood,
Where the Cagayan frowns no longer,
And the Zambales’ at peace with his God;
Where even the trees remember,
And even the sunsets smile,
Far from the rumor of cities,
Here, let me tarry awhile.
Spare me this strip of the Heaven,
Man lost in the garden of sin,
This is the Eden remembered,
Whisper, Life, “Love, come in!”
