Mother
When evenings cast pale shadows on the earth,
And silence, like a vast mysterious ghost,
Stifles the land and sea from hill to coast,
And buries all that tropic suns gave birth,
When by myself I pace the darkened shore,
And think of this unhappy lot of mine,
The pain and grief the fates to me assign,
I sigh for you, O mother I adore!
That I could seek your bosom as of old,
And, nestling there, bare secrets that oppress,
Accuse these that my love would disposses,
Whose hearts to cold desires and base are sold!
O mother dear! When death relieves our sighs,
Shall we in heaven, meet, in Paradise?
From Manila: A Collection of Verse (Imp. Paredes, Inc., 1926) by Luis Dato. This poem is in the public domain.
Luis G. Dato
Poet, educator, journalist, and politician Luis G. Dato, one of the first Filipino authors to write and publish in English, was born in Baao, Camarines Sur, Philippines, on July 4, 1906. He was the third of five children born to Eugenio Dato y Espalana and Barbara Guevara y Imperial. His brother, Rodolfo, was also an academic, having served as dean of the University of Nueva Caceres in Naga City, Bicol Region, Philippines, in addition to editing the anthology Filipino Poetry, initially published in 1924.