2023 February 25
Ode to EDSA
The spirit lives on, here and now
For ‘twasn’t a mere single bough
Nor a fleeting moment
Of thunderous lament
Evoked by today’s irony
And tragedy, ceasing would be
Further tribulation
From warped restoration
As divergent waves ebb and flow,
Converge towards an undertow
Engulf paper tigers
With truth, them deniers
In the blinders cast by pyrite
Resisting, struggling, day and night
Nevermore, the Undone
Revolution has spun
Oda sa EDSA
Ngayon at dito, buhay ang diwa
Ng ‘di lamang iisang sanga
Ni ‘di kisap-matang sandali
Dumagundong na pighati
Salukoy ng kabalintunaan
Pagtuldok ay lalong kalunusan
Tungong pagdurusang higit
Sa imaheng ginigiit
Lamunin, sumayaw mga alon
Magsanib, labanan mga hamon
Ng naghahari-harian
Kanilang kabulaanan
Kubli sa pangakong gintong huwad
Yaring pakikibaka, ilantad
Isulong yaong naudlot
Muling simulang masambot
[i] Galileo is a Regional Programme Officer with Focus on the Global South. He wrote this poem reflecting on the 37th anniversary of the People Power Revolution in the Philippines, commemorated today under the regime of the son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
