A Year Without Raul

NOTE: Today I yield to kimosabe27's remembrance a year after Raul S. Roco passed away, a fitting followup to his requiem to the fallen Bikolano icon.

Perhaps it was a god’s way of mourning, Raul
That a year after you departed,
Magayon,
In all her gracefulness and majesty
Wept

As we gazed from her perfect face
Red ruby tears cascading

As we listened from her bosom
Sobs of pealing thunder

As we felt from our feet
Waves of her trembling sadness

We were moved by the divine melancholy
And awed by the mystic perfection

In our heart of hearts
We solemnly pray
A mist of blessedness
Be gracefully bestowed on us
We who wretchedly walk
This parched earth

For a year without you Raul
Evil remained triumphant

We still seethe
In remembering sacred oaths
Pledged on hallowed ground
Easily being disowned, discarded

We still lament
That usurpers remain in power
Engorging themselves with fat of the land
While people die of hunger and neglect

We still grieve
The brave souls who stood up
For truth and justice
Only to be felled
By blood-hungry assassins

We still condemn
The Guardians of the Faith
Who waylaid the flock
When seduced by opulent temple offerings

We rage on

One year without you Raul
We were still bewildered
By that ancient riddle
Which haunted men
Who gazed the heights of heavens
And plunged the depths of their soul
Who traversed unfamiliar landscapes
And waded through ancient papyri

Asking:

Why do good men die
And evil men triumph?