DEL PILAR
By Luis G. Dato Up north beside Lepanto wild and far, By high Kabakan’s slopes a trail zigzags Its way across a wilderness and drags A weight of stones and memories of war. No forest creeping out shall hide of…
Category POEM
“One cannot write unless one has known satiety, debauchery, and the intimacy of desire, and can remember them “in moments of tranquility.”
— Luis G. Dato, Philippines Herald Mid-week Magazine in April 6, 1932
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TO LUNA
By Luis G. Dato Austere commander of the iron hand, Who marshalled men to trample fields of war, Who wielded well both pen and scimitar, Each word a call, each sword flash a command. Who stood as guard to Aguinaldo’s…
About Luis G. Dato
Luis G. Dato Marker The Luis G. Dato memorial marker is located at the Baao Town Plaza. It reads: “Luis G. Dato was born in Baao on July 4,1906 and attained notable distinction in Philippine Literary History with his poems…
RIZAL’S ANNIVERSARY, 1965
By Luis G. Dato We have not yet forgotten you, Rizal Nor ever will, while yet we worship Right, Deeming it still transcendent over might, And for whose sake you heeded country’s call, Its welfare to equate with boon for…
LIBERTY
By Luis G. Dato Liberty, this day we greet theeWith the dawn in face we meet thee,Fair of name and thus repeat thee,With thy song, liberty! Quezon, Hero-star defend us Whate’er the foe offend us, May the lightning falter rend…
THE FLAG
(Translation of “La Bandera” by Fernando Ma. Guerrero) By Luis G. Dato Time passes turbulent and blind, Vain dream now seems our Liberty! Yet faith lives still, and where I find Myself, my flag shall stand with me. It is…
THE REPUBLIC OF 1946
by Luis G. Dato This is the dawn we dreamed, the wished-for time, That crowns with laurel flowers the past sublime, When we for Home and Freedom strove with might, For ages under Slavery’s dark night; The hope fulfilled in…
Day on the Farm
By Luis G. Dato I’ve found you fruits of sweetest taste and found youBunches of duhat growing by the hill,I’ve bound your arms and hair with vine and bound youWith rare wildflowers but you are crying still. I’ve brought you…
Among the Hills
By Luis G. Dato I used to watch the sunrise glow That set aflame the eastern skies, My lips in songs did freely flow As thoughts went fleeting with my sighs. I’ve lived through storms and smiles and tears, And…
The Spouse
By Luis G. Dato Rose in her hand and moist eyes young with weeping, She stands upon the threshold of her house, Fragrant with scent that wakens love from sleeping, She looks far down to where her husband plows. Her…
POST DATA ON MANILA
By Luis G. Dato O city, million-souled, thousand-streeted, I feel your breath upon me, The sound of your many voices, Tread of anonymous feet. Goodbye, Manila, emporium of bills and kisses, And ladies with the hurrying hips And ever-freshly painted…
LIGHTS ON THE AVENUE
By Luis G. Dato And this will pass to nothingness: These lights That change to day the avenue’s dark nights, And beauty, too, because it will grow old The extinct crater of the heart turned cold. Tomorrow dies and quondam…
