Emerito Samarca

BLOOD RUSH
By SARAH RAYMUNDO

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Sometimes he thought of the world as soil and rain.
At times, the scorching sun meant everything
for the roots and one’s roots, even skin.
He did not go so far away
To take it all the way to freedom
to plenty, to happiness.

He lived and taught the children of the world as soil and rain.
So they learned that the scorching sun can sometimes mean everything
for the roots, and their own roots, and skin.
He told the children that there is no need to go so far away
To take it all the way to freedom
to plenty, to happiness.

(Photo courtesy of Pinoy Weekly)
(Photo courtesy of Pinoy Weekly)

They learned the orbits of the earth,
careful not to mistake these for mere cycles
like Mitchell’s seasons going round and round.
The kids have grown
So old for the past week.
So big that when I peeped into
the dream window
I saw huge babies with old faces
Orphaned like an old senile woman
returning to her youthful agonies.
Yet they told me, “We are ready.”

(https://www.bulatlat.com)

Sarah Raymundo is a full-time faculty at the University of the Philippines-Center for International Studies (UP-CIS Diliman) and a member of the National Executive Board of the All U.P. Academic Employees Union. She is the current National Treasurer of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) and the External Vice Chair of the Philppine Anti-Impeiralist Studies (PAIS). She is also a member of the Editorial Board of Interface: A Journal for Social Movements.

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