THE BEAUTY OF THE STRUGGLE

THE BEAUTY 0F THE STRUGGLE

(For Tanya, Kimberly, Ian* and all our young comrades and heroes of the revolution)

-  By NONILON V. QUEANO/ 4 February 2010

The beauty of the struggle is as that of mountains

Forests, rivers

Where dreams of freedom explode

In song upon the lips of our most beloved young comrades.

They drew with their hearts

Of fire and love on the people’s canvass

The most pure searing light that flashed on wasted faces

Of women and children;

The sheen on fallen workers’ blood;

Limned landscapes of ashen rains

Falling on bones, peasant huts, hovels;

Bodies tearing in hunger hues of bile green

Pale yellow, livid gray,

And the unquiet night.

Truly, were it but painting, poem or song,

A revolution would have been exquisite

As a white sea, a purple mountain, a violet sky,

And the dulcet smiles of Tanyas, Kimberlys,  Ians

And friends and heroes we fondly remember

Posing with the masses with their paintbrushes, pens, and guns.

But it is true.

The enemies prowl the night like ghouls

Spraying bullets on those who love most purely:

The poets and singers of the revolution

Who fought with us on the eternal day;

And it is true that we feel pain,

That we cry with raised fists to honor their memory,

That we will hold the gun with more passion and grace,

Exquisitely as in a painting, song, or poem on the people’s canvass

Drawn by young heroes and warriors who’ll come after us

Signing the wind with love and fire,

Fighting unendingly,

Until the dawn of freedom.

*Tanya Domingo, 20, and Ian Dorado, 19, were U.P. Diliman Fine Arts students who did cultural work with the masses of Brgy. Sta. Rita in Bulacan and were killed by the military on January 15, 2010.  Kimberly “Kimay” Jule Luna was a student leader at MSU-IIT, Iligan City, who went underground and was killed by soldiers in December 2009.