VIA MUNDI
by Luis G. Dato Ride, ride the highways of the world away, And back again, with hearts that throb with life, Your grails seek out in the light of farthest day, In that consists the world’s incessant strife. Blue hills…
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
FORGIVE ME, LORD!
by Luis G. Dato Upon the alleys of the life I led, No Cross weighed body down, No Pilate brought upon my head A briar crown. The terror of some unlit Golgotha Loomed not for my alarm, Inhostile crowds my…
THE ASSUMPTION OF MARY
by Luis G. Dato Some think like Bertrand Russel, they deny As at all possible that through vast space Mary could join her loved One in the sky — But who shall know God’s infinite light of Grace? And few…
POEMS FOR ELSA
By Luis G. Dato I Dear Elsa, as I write to you these lines, A flower festival rehearsal’s on - Still high, behind Sport’s Palace, the sun shines And bathes with glow the grounds this afternoon. My thoughts, however, are…
ENNUI
By Luis G. Dato I slept in the frenzy And delirium of men and their cities. Close by the streets and the cross-ways of traffic, Deep in the waste of houses Where multitudes unsmiling are homeless,’ Mouldered the hut of…
MARIA CLARA
By Luis G. Dato A rose and a lily she was, Pure yet passionate too for the love that she bore. Futile to her were the wiles of hypocrisy, Harmless the proffers of dons from Spain. For she thought and…
THE FISHERMAN
By Luis G. Dato A fisherman wades, knee-deep in the water, Feeling the stones at the bottom with his feet and his fork, Lighting his way with an oil-fed torch of bamboo. And the curtain of darkness behind him, And…
UNSOPHISTICATION
By Luis G. Dato The stir of business relapses to silence With the slowly sinking sun. The revels of pleasure commence for the weary, But children peering in the deepening dusk From playmates and playthings the livelong day, Children in…
SUSPENSE
By Luis G. Dato At Mount Mariveles, twilight lazily lingers, And the sun descending, almost out of sight, Into the hills and the seas beyond the hills, Goes down hesitating, slowly, While the night of music and mystery waits, And…
TEARS
By Luis G. Dato She felt alone In that garden unfrequented, Where the winds make moan For blossoms sweetly scented, Perfumed but far away. And as the sunset died, Lost the last long twilight ray, She felt so lone and…
LOST GLIMPSES
By Luis G. Dato A fairy came out of the woods, A creature bewitchingly fair; A dress would have stolen the beauty Half-hid by the locks of her hair. She said that not far from the wilds, Where the rill…
MIRAGE
By Luis G. Dato I saw in dreams a landscape With not a shadow by, It seemed so like a promise Half-hidden in the sky. There were high hills and mountains In purple drest and green, Like shades and shapes…
