POETRY

Sunset View from a House in Jasaan

The lure of porch and an easy chair,

Primeval syllables of small waves.

On the shingle the pebbles’ gray intensity.

Out in the west the last streaks of tangerine

Are pinioned between the slate of the open sea

And the masses of cobalt, insinuating rain.

Will you tarry a little longer?

Will you watch the gathering indigo of twilight

Obliterate the last bright hues of the day?

But watch too how the boats of the fishermen

With their tiny, silver points of gaslight

Restore the color on the horizon.

Sit back in the easy chair

In the complacency of the breezy porch.

Listen again to the syllables of small waves.

Take in too all the melancholy of tidal retreat

And the far-away cry of the kingfisher.

****

Pilgrims and Penitents: Catarman, Camiguin Island

So that even you perhaps wouldn’t recognize,

Our disguise was to wear saucy hats

And outlandish dresses,

And to mix with the throng

Of penitents and devotees,

We who are Corybantes of a passing world.

We prayed sotto voce

Through fourteen Stations of the Cross,

Our pleas meant just for you,

While the drizzle turned to pouring rain

And the water snuffed out the candles

The penitents before us had lighted.

To your omniscient eye the pilgrims and penitents,

Winding their way across one side

Of an active volcano, did not make an impression

In your universe of billion galaxies

The pilgrimage was not for you, but for us:

With saints and sinners we raised our voices

In songs of praise and long forgotten anthems.

It was more than the cold

That sent shivers down our spines.

 

Poet:

         Anthony L. Tan is a Sama-Tausug native of Mꞌddas (Siasi, Sulu).  He is a Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy) in the field of English Literature and the former chair of the English Department at Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology.  He has won various awards for his poetry, much of which remembers and honors his home of Muddas, the Sama name for the market town on the island of Siasi, Sulu.

Analysis:

I think this poem is written in response to the desire of the writer to share his ideas about life because the poem would be a help to individuals who are experiencing life crises. The writer intend to convey the message about a person’s life that is near to its end and it also shows a person contemplating of all the things he had done, reminiscing or recollecting all the memories in life.

This poem also used different figures of speech such as Irony, Personification, Metaphor and Hyperbole. Its words made the poem more pleasant to the senses and the reader can relate his life. The reader can also relate his life because the various words provide images/symbols that help the reader understand the poem.

Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/