IN YOUR COUNTRY

Where were you when Kabunian raised 
     his left hand
     and decreed blessings
     upon the land?

He bestowed a lot of gifts
Many a kingdom he gave away:
Acupan, John Hay, Dole
Isetann, Robinson, Hilton,
William Lines, Stanfilco,
Forbes, Jardin and Davis.

Enclaves that wall you out
Right in the country
Of your birth.

And the native Judas fled
To faraway cities, fleeing
With thirty pieces of silver
Of his harlotry, fleeing
With the fat of the naked 
Mountains whose fate
Is sealed like Ipil-Cunig--
They raped her, abandoned her--
At the foothills of Cordillera.

Heady was the drink they gave you
Bitter is the mixture of bile.
The expatriate gods
Are laughing in the inner sanctum
Of their domain.      

*Nairaman iti "Umayka Manen, Ganggannaet/Come Again, Stranger"