THREE CHAPTERS OF LOVE OR HOW IT IS TO LOVE TRULY

 (In memory of Kasamang Aileen)
-  Nonilon V. Queano/3October2010

(The author's translation into English of his own poem originally in Filipino, "Tatlong Yugto ng Pag-ibig O Paano Ba Magmahal Nang Wagas")

First, we who truly love
Need unfetter our minds
Across the empire's wide expanse,
Like meteor,
Blazing through the darkest nights with bursts of light,
So the heart could be a ball of fire drilling in the forest,
Or wherever the beloved has hid,
Love grows only in light.

Second, the work always kept alive inside:
Educating the masses
On how imperialism has brought suffering and injustice
Everywhere,
Across every space;
Tearing down the metaphysic
Which proclaimed that all poverty, suffering, and ignorance
Had been decreed by God in heaven,
Even if clearly God was the businessman
Who amassed wealth from plunder
Of mines, farmlands, weaving houses, kitchens
That belonged to us who had prayed, worshipped, were spurned, were devastated
By the wicked lie that they spread --
Borne on the terror of the wars that they unleashed everywhere --
That blessed are the poor and the hungry
For they will be rewarded in the afterlife,
This only the meteoric mind understands.

Third, the bearing of arms.
For nothing will put an end to the plague of imperialism,
But a revolution.
We will call this the love that is true,
From the heart that burns;
After raising the consciousness of the masses:
The uprising;
After seeing the love for freedom blossom:
The people's war wrought constantly
In song, faith, and dreaming
No matter how full of risks, distant, protracted.
That is how it is to love truly.
Drawing fire and light in the vast expanse and in forests,
Love will bloom,
Like the struggle,
For what is life worth if one has not loved,
And how is it to love if love be untrue.