By: Ferdinand S. Panerio+


O~ what has become of us?
This silence—deafening,
But where is this silence taking us?

The stillness feels cursed,
Have we built a congress of vanity and greed?
Only a few stand uncorrupted.

Is this a nation crumbling from within?
My beloved homeland drowns in swelling debt—
Born not from service, but from selective aid
Where the needy get crumbs, and the well-fed get feasts.

Silver tongues speak of promises,
But their pockets remain hollow, unsatisfied.
Projects for the people, they say—
Yet the people ask, where is it?

I love you, my country.
But what are we to do?
How do we rise and lift you,
When you no longer lift us?