POEM #3: Path to Mount Pangasugan (The Agony and the Ecstacy)

Far across the seas off Camotes,
Unto the land where the sun rises,
Behold! mighty Pangasugan towers,
Over VISCA campus' plains and rivers.

Come my fellow climbers and join me,
As we assail its commanding height,
Whose misty crown invoke mystery,
That beckons all to savor its lofty sight.

But scaling its walls were no easy feat,
Nor blazing its trails where none exist,
Grasping, grunting and gasping for breath;
Groping through thorns to reach its crest.

Ahhh! What a joy to behold and discover,
A forest untouched and of great splendor,
Nourished by God through sparkling rivers,
Teeming with wild delights and wonders.

There I saw a Philippine eagle hovering by,
So majestic among ancient dipterocarps,
Awed by its huge shadow as it passed by,
Parting and leaving a feather for keeps.

Sliding down to camp as dusk neared,
Towards a stream of marcucran delight,
Dipping in its water all my thirst vanished,
Amid the myriad resonances of night.

Packing up amid the call of hornbills,
Weaving through rocks of epic proportion,
Hopping down falls and doing some rappels,
Trekking downriver towards civilization.

Victory snared despite sheer exhaustion,
Licking my wounds like shining medallions,
‘Tis every mountaineer’s dream and passion,
Be one with nature and climb another season.

Looking back I saw an unspoilt Eden,
Where I left little mark of my passin',
Such scene I’ve relished and witnessed,
Of nature’s last bastion unscarred yet
by man’s greed.