Tbe Torcb of Life

There`s a breathless hush in the close tonight:

Ten to make and the match to win
A bumping pitch and a blinding light,
An hour to play and the last man in.
And it`s not Ior the sake oI a ribboned coat,
Or the selIish hope oI a season`s Iame,
But his captain`s hand on his shoulder smote:
'Play up! Play up! And play the game!


The sand oI the desert is sodden red,
Red with the wreck oI a square that broke;
The gatling`s jammed and the colonel dead,
And the regiment blind with dust and smoke.
The river oI death has brimmed his banks,
And England`s Iar, and Honor a name,
But the voice oI a Schoolboy rallies the ranks:
'Play up! Play up! And play the game!

This is the word that year by year,
While in her place the school is set,
Every one oI her sons must hear,
And none that hears it dare Iorget.
This they all with a joyIul mind.
Bear through liIe like a torch in Ilame,
And Ialling Iling to the host behind:
'Play up! Play up! And play the game!








Tbe City In Tbe Sea

Lo! Death has reared himselI a throne
In a strange city lying alone
Far down within the dim West,
Where the good, the bad, and the worst and the best
Have gone to their eternal rest.
There shrines and palaces and towers
(Time-eaten towers that tremble not)
Resemble nothing that is ours
Around, by liIting winds Iorgot
Resignedly beneath the sky
The melancholy waters lie.


No rays Irom the holy heaven come down
On the long night-time oI that town;
But light Irom out the lurid sea
Streams up the turrets silently
Gleams up the pinnacles Iar and Iree
Up domes up spires up kingly halls
Up Ianes up Babylon like walls
Up shadowy long Iorgotten bowers
OI sculptured ivy and stone Ilowers
Up many and many marvelous shrine
Whose wreathed Iriezes intertwine
The viol, the violet, and the vine
Resignedly beneath the sky
The melancholy waters lie.
So blend the turrets and shadow there
That seem pendulous in the air
While Irom a proud tower in the town
Death looks gigantically down.

There open Ianes and gaping graves
Yawn level with the luminous waves:
But not the riches there that lie
In each idol`s diamond eye
Not the gaily-jeweled dead
Tempt the waters Irom their bed:
For no ripple curl, alas!
Along the wilderness oI glass
No swellings tell that winds may be
Upon some Iar-oII happier sea
No heaving hints that winds have been
No seas less hideously serene.

But lo, a stir is in the air!
The wave there is a movement there!
As iI the towers had thrust aside,
In slightly sinking, the dull tide
As iI their tops had Ieebly given
A void within the Iilmy Heaven.
The waves have now a redder glow
The hours are breathing Iaint and low
And when, amid no earthly moans,
Down, down that town shall settle hence,
Hell, rising Irom a thousand thrones,
Shall do it reverence.















Class of Cold Water
Everybody calls me young, beautiIul, wonderIul. Am I? Look at my hair, my lips, my red rosy
cheeks and a pair oI blinkering eyes.


I remember, somebody says that I look like my mother that I look like my mother. But that when
she was young.

Now, I am much lovelier than she is. I`m a mortal Venus. Oops! What time is it? I must get
ready Ior the party!

Beep-beep.!A-huh! Here they are! Yes, I`m coming!

"Child, are you still there?"

"Hmp! That`s my mama"

"Child, are you still there? Will you please get me a glass oI cold water?"

"Mama, I`m in a hurry!"

"Please child, try to get me a glass oI cold water."

"Mama, please, try to get it on your own."

"Please child, try to get me a glass oI cold water!"

At the party, I danced and danced the whole night.

You see, I can`t leave the party at once. I have to danced with everybody who proposed to me.
At last, the party is over. I`m very tired. Very, very tired.

So, I went home to tell mama what happened.

"Mama, I`m home! It`s very quiet. "Mama, I`m home!" Nobody answers.

Where is she? I look Ior her in the sala, but she`s not there. Where is she? A-huh! In the kitchen!

I saw my mama, lying down on the Iloor, dead. With a glass on her hand. I remember, she tried
to get it.

Oh, God, just Ior the glass oI cold water! Mama! Mama! Oh, Mama!


Five Loaves of Bieau

She stood at the bar oI justice
A Irightened creature wan and wild
In Iorm too small Ior a woman,
In Ieature too old Ior a child.

For a look so worn and pathetic
Was stamped on her lovely Iace
It seemed that years oI suIIering
Was something time couldn`t erase.

'Your name? asked the judge as he eyed her.
'Is Anna Ruiz, Sir, said the girl.
'And your age? asked the judge again,
Then girl replied, 'I`ve turned IiIteen.

'Well Anna, I`m sorry to say,
That you have been charged today
By your town baker who said,
That you stole Iive loaves oI bread

Do you know that stealing is bad?
And that you have displeased our God?
Do you know that you could be jailed?
And cannot be set Iree or bailed?
'Your Honor, I know it was wrong,
But day in and out I walked along
Looking Ior work so I could earn
Even hard jobs, I`m willing to learn.

But Iate`s unkind, my Iather is dead,
My mother is sick and lying in bed,
My brothers and sisters missed six meals,
They asked Ior Iood with eyes Iull oI tears.

What could I do to save them Irom death?
I myselI was losing my breath
So I took the Iive loaves oI bread,
But I`ll pay with services instead.

There was silence in the courtroom,
That was suddenly Iilled with gloom.
The women wiped their tears away,
They heaved a sigh and tried to pray.

All dug into their pockets,
And then brought out their wallets
Sounds were heard oI golden coins that Iall
Into boxes passed around the hall.

The baker stood up and told the judge
'Your Honor, I`m withdrawing my charge.
A rich lady gave Anna a job
That helped her and all that she loved.

Adopted Irom
Guilty or Not Guilty
































ad Cirl

Hey! Every Body seems to be staring at me..

You! You! All oI you!

How dare you to stare at me?

Why? Is it because I`m a bad girl?

A bad girl I am, A good Ior nothing teen ager, a problem child?

That`s what you call me!

I smoke. I drink. I gamble at my young tender age.

I lie. I cheat, and I could even kill, iI I have too.

Yes, I`m a bad girl, but where are my parents?

You! You! You are my good parents?

My good elder brother & sister in this society were I live?

Look.look at me.What have you done to me?

You have pampered and spoiled me, neglected me when I needed you most!

In trusted me to a yaya, whose intelligent was much lower than mine!

While you go about your parties, your meetings and gambling sessions.

Thus. I driIted away Irom you!

Longing Ior a Iathers love, yearning Ior a mothers care!

As I grow up, everything change!

You too have change!

You spent more time in your pokers, mahjong tables, bars and night clubs.

You even landed on the headline oI the news paper as crook, peddlers and racketeers.

Now, you call my name; accuse me in everything I do to myselI?

Tell me! How good you are?

II you really wish to ensure my Iuture

Then hurry..hurry back home! Where I await you, because I need you.

Protect me Irom all evil inIluences that will threaten at my very own understanding.

But iI I am bad, really bad.then, you`ve got to help me!

Help me! Oh please.Help me!

































Taken For Cranted


'Christians? Christians?

Have you heard that call? They`re looking Ior me. That`s deIinitely me. You`re in doubt and
Why? You want me to give you prooIs? Oh! That`s very easy.

Who told you to doubt that I am a Christian?

I am a Christian! How?

I went to church. I pray. I have my religion. I read the Bible. I love kids and I am giving them
what they want. I sing gospel songs. Now you`re telling me that you are in doubt?

How dare you to question me?

Can`t you see? Or Are you blind? I am the true deIinition oI a Christian. You`re so pathetic; you
don`t have the right to question me that way.

What?! You want to ask me more?!. I`ll think about it Ior a second. Hmhm. Ok! I`m sure I`ll
be able to answer all your questions Iluently. Go. Ask me..

You`re asking me iI I go to church every Sunday?! I told you. I GO TO CHURCH. ahmm b-
bu-but not every Sunday. Every other Sunday I guess that`s Iine with the Lord.

Why?! I-I-I have a project every other Sunday. Yes r-r-right, I have a project. The Lord
understands that.

Liar?! I`m not a liar. I`m telling you the truth in Iact I went to church last three Sundays straight
and Oh my Gosh Cris is in the stage he`s starting to play the guitar.

Ooops I slip!

Ok Iine. I went to church three times straight without absent b-because oI Cris. He`s cute, he`s
talented. And I`m still there Ior the Lord.

Liar? I`m not a liar. I am still a Christian. It so happen that I don`t have any projects that Sunday.

Ahhh! Fake?! I`m not a Iake Christian; at least I go to church.

Don`t shout! Ahhh! I said I`m not a Iake Christian, I-I-I pray. every other day. At least I pray.

No! I said I am a true Christian I read the Bible. I open it. Every time the Pastor is telling me to
do so.

Ok stop. Why do we need to argue? I guess I really don`t know what Christianity is?

Ok! I go to church not because oI Christ but because oI Chris! I`m sleeping every time there is a
sermon because I only love the music. I don`t read my Bible because I guess that`s boring. I
sing. 'Jesus, I surrender I draw nearer, I Iall down but the truth I`m not sincere with that. But I
guess my works will be credited in his name. I share my blessings to the poor, i give giIts every
Sunday and I have a religion I guess that works.I don`t know.

Right, Ephesians 2: 8-9 was right. It is not by works that I will be saved because Jesus is the only
way. And I am so wrong I don`t even mind his sacriIices on the cross. I am supposed to be there
because those are my sins. I Iorgot my purpose here on earth; you know what, he`s been good to
me. But I always take him Ior granted. I`m doing things not Ior his glory but Ior my own. I
should live Ior him because he died Ior me. I`m so ashamed now. But Lord you still Iorgave me.
You`re so good. And you brought me to my knees.

Now I`m talking and standing in Iront oI you and I don`t care iI you are going to laugh at me. I
care to tell you things that I believe I must tell you. He won everything in me and he`s been
waiting Ior you too. II you believe you have him, you may now shout what Carman once wrote
'Jesus is the Champion.






















I to be laed?

They're chasing me, they're chasing, no they must not catch me, I have enough money now, yes
enough Ior my starving mother and brothers.
Please let me go, let me go home beIore you imprisoned me. Very well, oIIicers? take me to your
headquarters. Good morning captain! no captain, you are mistaken, I was once a good girl, just
like the rest oI you here. Just like any oI your daughters. But time was, when I was reared in
slums. But we lived honestly, we lived honestly in liIe. My, Iather, mother, brothers, sisters and
I. But then, poverty enters the portals oI our home. My Iather became jobless, my mother got ill.
The small savings that my mother had kept Ior our expenses were spent. All Ior our daily needs
and her needed medicine.
One night, my Iather went out, telling us that he would come back in a Iew minutes with plenty
oI Ioods and money, but that was the last time I saw him. He went with another woman. II only I
could lay my hands on his neck I would wring it without pain until he breaths no more. II you
were in my place, you'll do it, won't you Captain? What? you won't still believe in me?. Come
and I'll show you a dilapidated shanty by a railroad.
Mother, mother I'm home, mother? mother?!. There Captain, see my dead mother. Captain? there
are tears in your eyes? now pack this stolen money and return it to the owner. What good would
this do to my mother now? she's already gone! Do you hear me? she's already gone. Am I to be
blamed Ior the things I have done?













abenile Delinqaent

Am I a juvenile delinquent? I'm a teenager, I'm young, young at heart in mind. In this position,
I'm careIree, I enjoy doing nothing but to drink the wine oI pleasure. I seldom go to school,
nobody cares!. But instead you can see me roaming around. Standing at the nearby canto (street).
Or else standing beside a jukebox stand playing the nerve tickling bugaloo.Those are the reasons,
why people, you branded me delinquent, a juvenile delinquent.
My parents ignored me, my teachers sneered at me and my Iriends, they neglected me. One night
I asked my mother to teach me how to appreciate the values in liIe. Would you care what she
told me? "Stop bothering me! Can't you see? I had to dress up Ior my mahjong session, some
other time my child". I turned to my Iather to console me, but, what a wonderIul thing he told
me. "Child, here's 500 bucks, get it and enjou yourselI, go and ask your teachers that question".
And in school, I heard nothing but the echoes oI the voices oI my teachers torturing me with
these words. "Why waste your time in studying, you can't even divide 100 by 5! Go home and
plant sweet potatoes".
I may have the looks oI Audrey Hepburn, the calmly voice oI Nathalie Cole. But that's not what
you can see in me. Here's a young girl who needs counsel to enlighten her way and guidance to
strenghten her liIe into contentment.
Honorable judge, Iriends and teachers...is this the girl whom you commented a juvenile
delinquent?.