THREE CHAPTERS OF LOVE OR HOW IT IS TO LOVE TRULY
(In memory of Kasamang Aileen)
- Nonilon V. Queano/3October2010

(Revised and edited on Nov. 24, 2014)

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 into forests,
Or wherever the beloved has hid,
Love grows only in light.

Second, the work always kept alive:
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, cookeries
That belonged to us who had prayed, knelt in worship,
Were turned down, were devastated
By the wicked lie that they spread --
Borne on the wars they brought 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 imperialism,
But a revolution.
We will call this the true love,
From the heart that burns;
After educating 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 great the risks,
No matter how distant or protracted.
That is how it is to love truly.
Drawing up fire and light in the vast expanse and in forests,
Love will bloom,
Like the revolution,
For what is life worth if one has not loved,
And how is it to love if love be untrue.