FROM MY WINDOW
by Luis G. Dato Many a time, by my window, I listened Museful of soul, by the ways of the world, Many an hour, had a tear in me glistened For the life love betrays there unfurled. And after, ‘mid…
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
ANGUSTIA (English translation)
by Luis G. Dato O anguish so much of missing you,Sweet torment not to hold you, dear,O anguish of now not kissing you, Nostalgia for your loved voice to hear. I shall forget, my dear, never, Our nights by the…
TARLAC
by Luis G. Dato Tarlac looks young this April With a load of ungathered skies; Its pawing feet are trembling Between sugar and rice. In Angles, behind twin towers, The hills rise fold on fold, A barren ridge, a sunken…
OBSESSION
by Luis G. Dato I think of you at sunrise, When in the hills dawn, Robed in her clouds, reminds me Of roses in your lawn. I think of the folded curtains And silken blinds at noon, And of your…
FORGOTTEN SONGS
by Luis G. Dato The songs I sang in childhood, When I from care was free Again I heard in moments Entwined in memory. And with the songs of childhood, The past returns once more, I am as yesterday, A…
THE STREETS AT NIGHT
by Luis G. Dato The cruel muse with tumult fills the cities, They rear with gasping breath, And thunder beats upon their pavements, Thunder that came from death. The stranger’s heart at eventide is lonely, And weary must be roam,…
FORGETFULNESS
by Luis G. Dato Will you forgive? Bright drops of dew? Around hurt petals balsam weave, Will you? Can I forget? A nightwing flutters by And whispers softly, “No, not yet!” Will I? –Philippine Magazine December 1937
THE LYRE (Translated from Jose Rizal)
by Luis G. Dato You bid me strike the lyre Long time since still and broken, When now it lies unspoken And Muses none inspire. The tuneless strings suspire For some forgotten strain, Their laughter I but feign, And feigned…
INVOCATION (Translated from Jose Rizal)
by Luis G. Dato Hold high your pensive brow, This day, O youth, and stand, Shine radiant now Your valor grand Hope of the Motherland. Awake, O genius, rise To youth your song outpour Which, bird-like, flies But swiftier more…
MARIA CLARA SONG
by Luis G. Dato Sweet are the hours in one’s own native land, Where all are friends who live beneath her skies, Life bring the winds that roam upon her strand, Death is a joy, and life a Paradise. Warm…
FROM NOLI’S DEDICATION
by Luis G. Dato A foul disease our nation’s body tears Apart, and from the torture wild with pain, The nation struggles utterly, in vain A curse on her has fallen unawares! The wound grows deeper, and no mortal dares…
MALAY (Translated from Claro M. Recto)
by Luis G. Dato My blood is Titanic in soul and in spirit, Rajah blood I inherit, Which tumultuous will down through my arteries beat, It is turbulence toned to hysterical war, It is flame from the fumes of volcanoes…
