LOVE’S COMPLAINT
by Luis G. Dato God, why is there so much of death, Why have You wrought this vale of tears, You who have power, goodness, breath Of mercy, Space , and all the the years? Our lives deny to us…
Category POEM
“One cannot write unless one has known satiety, debauchery, and the intimacy of desire, and can remember them “in moments of tranquility.”
— Luis G. Dato, Philippines Herald Mid-week Magazine in April 6, 1932
TODAY
By Luis G. Dato Since time has rent asunder The idols of our heart, And passion trodden under, Has rifted us apart; Since we have met our sorrow, And shared a mutual pain, Since time has no tomorrow For love…
LAST WORD
By Luis G. Dato Beloved, I regret The world to leave, Since you might quite forget, Nor quite forgive. You still remember (Was this my fate?) Still burns unquenched an ember In you of hate. Beloved, I must leave, Is…
IMPATIENCE
By Luis G. Dato I hate you, ocean, and tonight, As waters rave upon your strand, There glowers in my eyes, a light, A hate you cannot understand. I loved you once, might love again Your sobbing, sinuous guitars, Adore…
COSMOS
By Luis G. Dato With stars I tryst, and in the outmost Night, Time thundering roams the skies, I fear the alternation of the light, Love, let me look in your eyes. A funeral wind is moaning through the trees,…
LOVE
By Luis G. Dato In life there is no pleasure To love and youth unknown For love is life’s one treasure, And love and life are one. In youth there is one sorrow To love and life well known, For…
UNFORGOTTEN
By Luis G. Dato I met and then forgot her With unremembered things, And thoughts if love could utter Once more its murmurings, Another one, and not her, Could wake the muted strings. The years had passed long after That…
AWAKENING
By Luis G. Dato ‘Tis time this heart indifferent To love so long, Should rise from slumber innocent And stroll among The gardens that are heaven-sent. The butterflies’ unweary quest From vase to jar, For wine within the petals’ nest…
LIFE IN THE BARRIO
By Luis G. Dato How blessed the barrio life of ease, Where man with all the world has peace! All is not perfect, it is true, Here Poverty exacts its due, It is not always harvest time,Nor all year round…
NOCTURNE
By Luis G. Dato Night comes, a spirit through my being steals, And bids my eyes, tired eyes in sleep to close, And to the bidding, now my soul that feels No sense of quiet, quietens in repose. Stay longer,…
NOCTURNE
By Luis G. Dato Your fair hands swift as wings fly down the keys To woo from solitude Night’s rhapsodies Floating like moonlight o’er the slumbering vale, Dappled and filigreed with flowers pale, The music surges and dissolves in flight,…
AND KANDAS BLOSSOM
By Luis G. Dato The kanda, comely tropic flower In clusters yellow, red and white, It gives with all unfathomed power. An inexpressible delight. Its glossy leaves, cool, spatulate, Its trunk and branches neat Give shade beside the sun-drenched gate…
