THE CROSS OF MAY
By Luis G. Dato The Cross of May, the Cross of May, Time flies and passes, you shall stay, To shed upon the tawdry scene The lustre of your light serene. Month of the flowers, month of prayer, Your mirth…
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
Read MoreTHE CROSS OF MAY
MEETING IN MAY
By Luis G. Dato O! lovely girl, in our first meeting I still can see your smile of greeting, And the gardenia on your heart, You gave me when we had to part. Long since we should have met before,…
RAIN ALL DAY
By Luis G. Dato All day it has rained and the wind Soughed through the leaves, A soul of old autumns and days long dead. All day desire in the rain is a cold remembrance Of old autumns dark with…
DISTANT OR NEAR
By Luis G. Dato Distant or near, Hour of night or day, To me what matter Or window grill or grated door or lapse of years To shut you in another, different world? defy time and distance, All for a…
TO YOU UNKNOWN
By Luis G. Dato Being a perfect mystery, How strange that I your gifts should claim, You are, my friend, unknown to me Even to the very name. Yet in the city such things pass - Pure gems are oft…
AND BEING NEAR, WHAT DEARNESS
By Luis G. Dato Having you close at hand, what gladness To feel one straying, scented curl, In your heart’s wine, what intense madness This wish for oneness with the pearl! Your hands, your hands, are soft as roses, They…
BRIDE OF THE FIRST NIGHT
By Luis G. Dato O bride of the first night, Warm with the sun of the first love, Bright with the arrow Of the primal plunge Into the abyss of the first kiss. O bloom and flame of thighs, Conqueror…
QUESTION TO NIGHT
By Luis G. Dato I lift my soul into the infinite, And seek to wrest its mystery from night, The why of stars and days, the why we moan For elixirs we find from lips alone. For elixirs we find…
THE ROSE OF LAGONOY
By Luis G. Dato Beside the Gulf of Lagonoy Among the hillocks hidden A hamlet greets the rising sun So like a rose from Eden. And heaven is that charmed strand Where woods and waves come blending, Where bide a…
O GRIEVE NOT THAT THE ROSES
By Luis. Dato O grieve not that the roses, Howe’er so sweet have closes, Or that no love reposes, But only vain dreams finds; They only do not wither In haunts away from hither, Could we but hurry thither On…
IF WE MUST PART
By Luis G. Dato “Since there’s no help, come, let us kiss and part,” But if so soon it has to be farewell, Why add more pain upon the aching heart, Which a kiss leaves, knowing it to be the…
REPLY TO ROSSETTI
By Luis G. Dato When you are dead, my dearest, Would you know the songs we sing, What cypress-tree above your head, What roses for you bring? For though green grass enshroud you With showers and dew drops wet, Always…
