Purple hibiscus,
gathered from depth of the woods.

Serpents, in the wild,
captured for haute couture.

Coffee beans,
defecated by civets.

Foie gras, caviar, champagne flutes,
Evian, sipping her piña colada,
getting her tan.

Serpent’s skin,
rubbing elbows,
with the alta sociedad,
plucking her eyebrows,
rouging her lips.

" And  lead  us  not  into  temptation,
but  deliver  us  from  evil. "

a child tells

i see a ball
invisible threads, it was made of
light as gossamer connecting us
playmates of different worlds
unknown, unseen

i see three birds
trying the shoe
who owns it, asked the wolf
two were shot, one flew
songs and tears tied to its feet

i see a veil
by its slitting
laugh, commanded the king clothed in gold but none
huddled masses wept
prayers sealed their lips

i see a red cloak
deep red, fell on the ground
slowly, turning into ants, disrupted
displaced, dispersing
not so far away, a mound was forming

i see an old tree
gnarled, with long braid of hair
of ashen faces and fainting voices
in garbled words, this land we own
before its dying breath, whispering

tell, my child

Explain it to me:
You  love  me,
Yet  you  chose  Him.

For  loving  you  is  an  Original  Sin.

How old I was I can’t remember well.
But too old for a vivid remembrance, of pain
for me, and death for you.

Whiteness of fur spoke of purity,
blood painted whiteness, Red--
rusted beatings you bore,

Whimpering, wriggling your body
tied on that rope, hanging on that “santol” tree,
bearing witness, wounding your skin,

In agony, you were wrestling
with metals, they folded, they bowed,
clasped to your neck, the rust.

Hide! said my Mama.
Don’t look, she added.
Hide I did and look I did.

In-between those bamboo slats, I saw:
the whiteness of your body;
blood painted the whiteness, red, like the rust.

Sweating.
On that bamboo stick I held, I gripped my hands
also brown, like the lining on your neck.

Tears unshed, sealing my lips.
Like boiling water, trapped on that ***, that these brutes had prepared
scalding your skin,

Dogs fed on dog, these brutes were
singing in worship of “Tanduay”, a bottle,  their god.
Drumbeats wanting, but laugh,  and laugh they did.

Like a good master they called you, Azucena, an innocent girl.
Voice lilting, luring you to your death,
Azucena... not the provincial bus, that will transport you to your grave,

Azucena... not the white “liliums” that abound the heaven, or your grave.
But a name, a noun, to feed their protruding stomachs, stinking,
to wash their rotten soul, perhaps.

Azucena,
Asocena,
But that’s not your name.