Filipino Poet, Writer and Educator
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…
by Luis G. Dato Well, then, I must tell how much I adore you, And tell that I love you with all my heart, That much do I suffer, that much I deplore you And now I can’t bear it,…
by Luis G. Dato O Psyche immortal, fluttering unseen, Who hither from the dim abysses came To dower on my being what has been Of its statuary of flesh, the flame. I see you rise aglow with morning fire, And…
by Luis G. Dato To see my feverish hours Pass by so slowly, Who would beside me sit, My bed so lowly? And when with tremulous hand, I’m nigh the end, O who would clasp it then, What kindly friend?…
by Luis G. Dato “The Child shall be my own,” the moon in tender And venomous commiseration saith, “And she shall take the loveliness of death, Death’s countenance, her raiment of pale splendour; Body and soul to me she shall…
by Luis G. Dato Upon a Jewess’ couch an evening once, A ghost beseeming by the side of one Thought wandered from that flesh whence soul had flown, To one who might have on me brought romance. And then her…
by Luis G. Dato Quite often sailors shoot the albatross, And bring them down with infidel delight, Huge birds that trail the ships the sea across, With cloud-like pinions quivering in flight, Fallen on deck, and barely left alone, They…
by Luis G. Dato I have a dream too sharp and strange for name, Of one who loves me and for whom I yearn, A changing dream, yet somehow still the same, Companion to my fancy’s every turn. She understands…
(Translation of “La Bandera” by Fernando Ma. Guerrero) By Luis G. Dato Time passes turbulent and blind, Vain dream now seems our Liberty! Yet faith lives still, and where I find Myself, my flag shall stand with me. It is…
By Luis G. Dato Farewell, dear isles beloved of sea and sky, Where once we envisioned the gleam of Paradise, For your dear sake seems it divine to die, And were life fresher, brighter still would I Walk smiling onward…
