Thursday, August 23, 2007

POEM #1: Save Mount Manunggal


Upheaved from the crust of the earth,

Rising immense and towering above all
Of Cebu's1 peaks, all north and south;
A mountain of a rock called Manunggal2.

Where now have your creatures fled?
Your rivers dammed and diverted,
Forests logged in the name of progress;
Destruction unleashed without remorse.

Mount Manunggal, mecca of mountaineers!
Spread before us your once lush valleys,
Satiate us with your once cool rivers,
Leave us something to celebrate and enjoy.

Mount Manunggal – graveyard of airplanes!
Where the great Magsaysay3 met his end.
Shrines now rose where trees once clad your skyline,
Whose twilight dimmed now by a setting sun...


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1An island province in Central Philippines.
2A mountain located in the town of Balamban in Cebu whose elevation is at around 3,009 feet above sea level.
3President Ramon Magsaysay. The Philippines' sixth president who died in a plane crash on the shoulder of Mount Manunggal on March 17, 1957 aboard the the presidential plane “Pinatubo”.

Document done in OpenOffice.org 2.1 Writer, Trebuchet MS font, size 12.