SONGS OF THE ROAD
By Luis G. Dato I A boy and his lady walking — Of what may they be talking? A boy and his lady sitting - What thoughts in their minds are flitting? In a pickup at night together, Do you…
Luis G. Dato
Filipino Poet, Writer and Educator
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THE OPEN ROAD
By Luis G. Dato I take a road that starts I know not whence, Past fields and hills, it ends I know not where , The trees beside give shade, my thirst to quench In brooks, my lungs throb breathing…
HOME
By Luis G. Dato High on the banks of a river, Green-crowned with many a vine, Far though I bide in vision, I see the home of mine. The swallows round its window Fly down and round again, When, from…
MY HOME
By Luis G. Dato Up by a leaping stream, And cradled ‘neath a hill, The hallowed moments seem Eternity of thrill. Over the roof cadenas creep, Soft grasses clothe the lawn, Which in the twilight weep With waiting for the…
BELLS OF SPAIN
By Luis G. Dato Bells of olden years and hoary, What remembrancers! Telling of an unremembered Glory long once theirs. Mission bells that from the distance, Told of God and war, Now from throats grass-grown and rusty, Come the petals…
THE LANES OF ERMITA
By Luis G. Dato I am longing for the gardens of an Eden far away, Where the dream of quaint, rose alleys meets the murmur of the bay, And the dream of this nostalgia loudly through my spirit beats, For…
THE STREETS OF INTRAMUROS (Translated from Joaquin Pellicer y Camacho)
By Luis G. Dato When I wander the streets of Manila, it seems Intramuros awakens my mem’ry again; When at twilight the sun leaves me lone with my dreams Of the heroes of old and the power of Spain. I…
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…
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,…
MALOLOS
by Luis G. Dato The town is quiet, the houses still, And the dark house of God, The heroes slumber up the hill, And in my heart, their blood. Again I see a gay procession, And men in bright attire,…
RETURN TO BATAAN
by Luis G. Dato Above Bataan warplanes soar, Relentlessly the cannons roar From smoking cliffs to ships off-shore, A roof of bombs, a ring of flame; Corregidor’s a blur behind, An army there will cover find, Bataan stands, and then…
SENTRY OF ZAPOTE
By Luis G. Dato Across the moonless meadows I make a sudden flight, Up hills and down the valleys of immemorial death, My throbbing heart remeasures my stallion’s labored breath, I stand upon Zapote this hour of near midnight. I…
