Equatorials 2007: A Batch Full of Poems

I apologize for the lack of activity in my blog last week, but I would like to state, in my defense, that I had a full plate. First, I helped out with Love, Lunacy, and Poetry, the Literature Department's culminating event for the school year. While my wife Tina was giddy with delight at having to entertain noted poet Dr. Gemino Abad (her unabashed admiration of the esteemed poet leads me to wonder why my son Manuel shares his ears, but that's a topic for another time), I had an equally, if not quite as self-serving duty myself: to bring Ol' Blue Eyes to the affair, by way of cool event music.

Next, I had to attend the Equatorial Celebrations for this year's Junior Batch in UA&P, if only because they mistakenly selected me as Batch Ninong yet again. Frankly, I'm surprised they're not sick of my dated antics, because I am. Still, the event in itself was truly an occasion for joy if only for Dr. Elizabeth Urgel's Batch Ninang address, Sam Macagba's tearful response on the part of the Junior Batch, and a surprise appearance by poet laureate Pablo Neruda, by way of his poem Tu Risa (Your Laughter), which I read to the Junior Batch in lieu of boring them with a metaphysical reflection on the nature of free will and sharing. Here's an excerpt (translated by Donald Walsh):

Take the bread from me, if you want
take the air from me, but
do not take from me your laughter

Do not take away the rose,
the lanceflower that you pluck,
the water that suddenly
bursts forth in your joy,
the sudden wave
of silver born in you.

My struggle is harsh and I come back
with eyes tired
at times from having seen
the unchanging earth,
but when your laughter enters
it rises to the sky seeking me
and it opens for me all
the doors of life.

Congratulations, Juniors! Some of you might never grow up to be poets of note, but by the sincere, irrepressible joy with which you engage life, never doubt that you are all poems worthy of being enshrined in the hallowed halls of classic poetry. Enjoy!