Still
by: xiang li
Date Posted:08/11/2008 8:33 pm

The world is still.
Heavy cobwebs curtained my zonked mind—-
as the wild, lucid thoughts struggled their way through the creaks.
Ah! the sawdust— it’s blinding my eyes… hurting and blinding…
Shall I see again the gaunt, almost homey face of a scarecrow?
It didn’t smile back at me.

My ears are bursting from the loud resonating silence inside.
Do you happen to hear what it says?
Nothing… just my head spinning as I sat disgusted in this lonely chair.
A cup of stale tea I’ll spare for you if you sit beside me:
And perhaps, you too, will hear what this silence has to say;
You, too, perhaps will know why the straw-stuffed scarecrow doesn’t smile.

Oh! the rustic hands that made it!
Your follies and mine shall pull a wry grin on its hollow face!
We’ll make its sightless eyes crinkle though a candlelight—-
Will those eyes ever see eternity and beyond?
Yet, the world stands still.
But the world has stood still.

There he treads the untrodden paths,
there he sails to the vast unknown—-
Courage his sword and Will his shield:
‘tis what arm this bold vagabond.
He wanders through his youth,
embracing Nature’s will:
he strikes towards his aim,
grappling with fate’s eternal odds.
But this knight— this gallant, youthful knight—-
Is he whom the world detests?
is he whom the world shuns?
Hordes of Pharisees do mock this rogue,
with a heap of doubts; with a pool of haze…
But deep within, his own daggers bleed his heart,
and his own marsh of queries dons shadows upon
his mind.
Oh! this knight— so bold and reckless—-
yet, so timid and mild—-
refuses the stairs of the scaffold;
declines to ascend the pillory of doom.
He longs for the world to know—-
that beneath his tough façade of glory,
beneath the ephemeral gleam of power—-
lurks a lost, piteous child of no man.
The Earth now his home,
and the World may be his foe…
Aye, this daring warlord—-
this wonderful nomadic knight,
gears not wayward but homebound.
I trust he must be found.
I trust he will be found.

Upon the stairway of despair,
Complete with broken love affairs
And promises that never came,
But faded with a touch of shame,
A pretty boy with golden hair
And innocence so sadly rare,
Strove to keep his head above
A way of life devoid of love.

Feeling pinned against Life’s wall,
He chanced upon a crystalline stone tall
And said, “Please come and share with me
Whatever Fate has deemed to be.
I’m through with love, done with chances
Spirit crushed by past romances,
Just be a friend in word and deed.
That’s all that I shall ever need.”

“There’s not too much from me to learn,”
Remarked the crystalline stone, in return.
“Emotions do not form apart
of my cold, solid-steel heart.
Whatever Maker fashioned me
Did not permit my circuitry
Responsiveness to love or pain-
Your thoughts for me would be in vain.”

“No matter”, spoke the maid, “No more
do I wish passion to explore.
Be someone I can come home to
When my exhausting day is through.
Count yourself a well-worn shoe-
A friend that I can slip into…
Protection from stone cold floor…
For this I ask and nothing more.”

Agreement made, she took his hand
And lived the life that he had planned,
Always willing, never demanding,
Aiding him with understanding
She made him smile with humorous wit
(As restrictions would permit)
And, bit by bit, he came to feel
That he was more than crystalline stone.

Nag-atubang ug dakong tahas sa kalibotan
Giatubang ang tanang panginahanglan
Bisan pa man sa kalisod nga iyang gitaakan
Wala panumbalinga ang mga kasakit nga iyang natagamtaman.

Unsa may ugma ning mga bata-a
Hasta man ang ilang mga ginikanan wala sila panumbalinga
Kay nag-atubang kanunay ug baraha
Nga maoy ilang gipamahaw, paniudto ug panihapon bisan unsang adlawa.

Sila naningkamot sa ilang kaugalingon
Walay segundo,minuto ug oras ilang palabyon
Kanunay nangita ug makapangwartahan
Aron lang makapalit ug saging tundan.

Wala igsapayan ang kalisod nga ilang giatubang
Kanunay nalang nagkubkob ug lata sa basurahan
Kini ilang ipatimbang aron masudlan ang kasakit sa ilang tiyan
Nga kanunay lang manguhit, mangita ug saging tundan.

Sa walay puas nga panginabuhi sa kadalanan
Ilang gipakita sa ilang mga ginikanan
Nga dili babag ang kapobre aron makab-ot mo ang tanan
Bisan pa man ug nagkagidlay silang naglakaw sa kadalanan
Nakigbisog aron makatabang sa atong katilingban.

Human sa inyong pagkombati
Ug pagbuntog sa inyong mga bisyo
Tungod sa pag-abag ninyo
Sa gugmang way paglubad
Ug diha sa buhat sa kahibalo
Sa mga sugo og diha sa mga
Pagtulun-an ko og ang inyong
Kinabuhi maanaa sa tin-aw’ng kahayag
Kay kamo sa kaluwasan kabahin na
Sa tunhay’ng athag, ug kamo katahum
Nga diwa sa pagka balaan usa sa gingharian
Himaya sa diyos hangtod sa kahangturan.

Paduol, dangop gayod sa guinoo
Kay bisan unsa kadako
Sa imong sala, dili makalaban
Sa kadaku sa gugma, ni Bathala.
Imong pagtuo kahibalo, buhat
Pinaagi sa gugma, padayona
Kanunaya kay ang buhat sa gugma igo na!

Pagka-anindot nga sud-ongon sa kahoy’ng talisay
Nga sa iyang gitas-on siya mapagarbohon
Diin daplin sa baybayon sa tanang kahoy mabiay-biayon .

Panahon miabot, misulay kaniya
Hangin nga makusog, ulan nga masubra
Mikuso-kuso sa baybayon, ug sa mga kahoy misipala
Unos nga masilagon, sa kapungot nagdala
Kabangis sa panahon, mipukan kaniya.

Bunga sa talisay sa balod gianod
Halapad nga kadagatan, latas sa dakong lawod
Padulngan unsa’y dangatan, wala siya masayod
Kalinaw sa panahon, maoy bugtong manalipod.

Bunga sa talisay sa halayong baybayon gidagsa
Maampingong mga balud kaniya mipahiluna
Miturok ug nabuhi sa maabi-abihong luna
Midako ug milabong, sa yuta ug ubang kahoy gipangga .

Talisay ikaw karon, ang kinaiyahan nagmaampingon
Sa uban nga mga kahoy ikaw mapa-ubsanon
Sa gagmay mong mga bunga ikaw makiangayon
Luyo sa kasakit, ikaw magmalampuson.