Sa aking lupang ipinanganakan, Pilipinas, my lament:
(Kababayan, gusto kong maintindihan kung bakit)
Why the serpentine urge to shed skin—
Beautiful skin, golden, molten brown— in exchange for faded light trapped in a bottle
Owned by those who ravaged, pillaged, and r.a.p.e.d. a nation and her people?
Kayumanggi na kay ganda, nasaan ka na?
(Sa iyong mga mata ang aking nakikita) Ebullient unspoken shame.
(Anak ni Malakas at Maganda, lahi ni Bonfacio, nasaan ka na?)
Diaspora is Denizen’s Destined Diadem
(Sa kalagitnaan ng bayan, ikaw ay nawala)
