Compilation of Philippine Literature

I Vialed the Universe (Leoncio P. Deriada)

I vialed the universe

And laughed at the concentrated Gods.

But the Genie escaped with His halo of riddles.

I pondered anew and unslept.

Thoughts were strange with the strangeness of new towns

Thoughts were as vast as the unvialed God.

I could not bottle or battle Him.

There: I saw Him mark in the matutinal mist.

I surrendered.

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Death by Herminio M. Beltran

We are

Leaves of Life's tree --

And death is the wind that shakes

The branches gently 'till its leaves

All fall.

Youth (Maximo D. Ramos)

These have known the tingling freshness
Of the coming forth from God;
The sweetness of mother's breast
The ringing sinewiness of growth,
The feel of the loved one's cheek, the song
Of April suns and showers...

And these will know
The quiet dimming down of age
And the silent wonder
of going back
to God.

Picture Show ( Guillermo Castillo)

By God's divine will,

I waken sitting in the dark

with my attention set

upon a Screen before me

while God behind me in His closet

with His intricate machines

projects a Moving Picture Show

a masterpiece which we call - LIFE

The Spouse (Luis G. Dato)

Rose in her hand, and moist eyes young with weeping,
She stands upon the threshold of her house,
Fragrant with scent that wakens love from sleeping,
She looks far down to where her husband plows.

Her hair disheveled in the night of passion,
Her warm limbs humid with the sacred strife,
What may she know but man and woman fashion,
Out of the clay of wrath and sorrow, Life?

She holds no joys beyond the days's tomorrow,
She finds no worlds beyond his arms's embrace,
She looks upon the Form behind the furrow,
Who is her Mind, her Motion, Time and Space.

Oh, somber mystery of eyes unspeaking,
And dark enigma of Life's loves for lorn,
The sphinx beside the river smiles with seeking,
The secret answer since the world was born.

Sa Aking mga Kababata (Dr. Jose Rizal)

Kapagka ang baya'y sadyang umiibig
sa kanyang salitang kaloob ng langit,
sanglang kalayaan nasa ring malapit,
katulad ng ibong nasa himpapawid.

Pagka't ang salita'y isang kahatulan
sa bayan, sa nayo't mga kaharian,
at ang isang tao'y katulad, kabagay
ng alinmang likha noong kalayaan.

Ang hindi magmahal sa kanyang salita'y
mahigit sa hayop at malansang isda,
kaya ang marapat ay pagyamaning kusa
na tulad sa inang tunay na pinagpala.

Ang wikang Tagalog tulad din sa Latin,
sa Ingles, Kastila't sa salitang anghel,
sapagka't ang Poong maalam tumingin
ang Siyang naggawad, nagbigay sa atin.

Ang salita natin huwad din sa iba
na may alfabeto at sariling letra,
na kaya nawala'y dinatnan ng sigwa
ang lunday sa lawa noong dakong una

The Story of the Unfinished Bridge

At Balatoc, which is part of the municipality of Lubuagan, and the province of Kalinga-Apayao, is one of the oldest barrios. This barrio is situated at the foot of a high mountain where there is located a huge rock. The people who dwell there are the Tinguians from Abra, the the Isnegs from Apayao, and some people from Dananao which is part of the district of Tinglayan. Some people in this barrio made caves at the foot of a huge stone as their houses in times past and even now.

In this barrio there was a beautiful woman. Her name was Ipogao. One day, a man whom none of the inhabitants knew, appeared. He went to Ipogao and said, "Ipogao, I am God (Kabunyan), from a distant place. I come to see you because I want to marry you." Ipogao answered, "I would like to marry you if you truly like me."

After this conversation was finished, Ipogao led God to her house which was very small. The house of Ipogao to which they went was very far from where the real barrio was situated. After many days had passed, God thought of a good thing that he would do. He went and wandered around the farms to look for some good work that he would do. When he looked down on Pasil, he decided to make a bridge across to the other side for the people to pass when they go to the opposite side to work for their supplies.

So then, God returned to their house to tell Ipogao what he wanted to do. He instructed her, "You, Ipogao, tomorrow I'll start out to go and work. Don't worry if I'll not be here or if no one will come to me. I don't need anything to eat. It will be just up to me, and I'll come here if I get hungry." When he had finished giving his instructions he started out to go to his work.

After many days had passed by, Ipogao longed for her husband. So then, she cooked rice to take to her husband. When she was almost at Pasil, she heard what sounded like a machine. So then, she silently drew near. When she had drawn near and spied what was making the noise, she saw God working. She carefully watched and was frightened to see flame of fire coming out from the navel of God. He was pointing the flame at the bridge that he was making.

Ipogao was frightened and so went silently away. As she was going away from the scene, a small piece of cooked rice fell and she made footprints at God's resting place.

When it was evening, God was tired so he went to rest at his resting place. As he was resting he saw some cooked rice and a person's footprint on the ground. He said, "There was a person who came here to my resting place. He plainly saw me working. I want no one to see me working until I am finished with the work that I'm doing." After he'd finished what he was saying to himself, he went to their house to go and ask his wife who'd seen him. He arrived at their house and saw his wife worrying. He conversed with her, "Ipogao, who went to that place where I am working and dropped some cooked rice and whose footprint is it that is at my resting place?"

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Ipogao told the truth, "I'm the one who went. I was coming to bring your food. I was only worrying because you had not been here for many many days." God answered, telling Ipogao, "You were and saw me working and interrupted me; you didn't listen to what I told you, so that thing I was working on will not be finished. I thought I would make a bridge for the benefit of the people here." God then returned to the bridge. When he arrived, he cut it into four pieces. One-fourth was left connected to the big stone. The part left measured about 4-1/2 meters. The other cut parts fell into the river. When God had finished destroying the bridge, he returned to their house and instructed Ipogao, "I am repenting, Ipogao, for I thought that I would come to marry you so that I would do something for your benefit. Being therefore interrupted, I will leave you and these people here." So the next day, God was no longer there.

When God had already gone away, Ipogao led the people to what he had worked. The people were surprised when they saw a part of the bridge that was left suspended and connected to the rock. While the people were carefully gazing at the bridge, they reprimanded Ipogao, "You should not have come and interrupted him until he was finished. Why ever did you come when he had instructed you?" When Ipogao answered, sh said, "It's just that in my mind I thought he was a person like us." After the people had seen that bridge they believed that God was that one who had come. There is a part of the bridge left there even now.

The Sun, The Moon and the Stars (Moro - Isulan Version)

Many many years ago, there was daylight throughout the years. There was no night because the Sun and the Moon were always together. The Moon was the wife of the Sun and the two lived happily with their children for many thousands of years.

But one day, the Sun told the Moon that he was going out for a walk. He requested her to cook some gabi leaves for him to eat after his walk.

"The pot must be filled with cooked gabi by the time I arrive home," he said.

"The leaves will shrink as they cook, so you cannot expect the pot to be full," replied the Moon.

"The pot must be filled when I arrive home," insisted the Sun, "or something terrible will happen." Then he left the worried Moon.

The Moon was very sad, but she was a very good wife. She went out to her vegetable garden to gather some gabi leaves. When she was cooking the vegetable, she found out that the longer she cooked it, the less bulky it became. She tried cooking again and again to see if she could get the pot filled to the brim.

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When the Sun came home, he immediately asked the Moon for the pot of gabi. When he saw that the pot was not full, he became very angry, and scolded the moon severely. The couple quarreled for a long time.

At last the Sun said, "Here after, we shall be separated. I want you to go your own way."

"What will happen to our children?" the moon asked. "Who will take care of them?"

"I will not take care of them," thundered the Sun.

"But if I take them along with me, they will surely suffer from cold," replied the Moon.

"And they will suffer the heat if they stay with me," the Sun said.

The Moon would not take the children along with her. This enraged the Sun. He took the bolo, killed the children, and chopped them to pieces. He took small pieces of the children's flesh from the floor and threw them outside the window of their house saying, "You shall go with them, and look after them in darkness."

Every piece of the flesh of the dead children of the Sun and the Moon turned into a star. The Moon went away from the Sun, and with her were the stars. To this day, we see the Moon and the Stars together at night and because of the quarrel of the Sun and the Moon, we now have day and night.