A Sanlakas poem

Come forth all you who are tired,
all you who have grown weary.

You who suffer by the heavy hand
of exploitation and stand aghast
at the avarice of the few.

You who know that every voice
that has been allowed to speak,
a thousand others have been muted
by want and constraint.

You who have been numbed
by the growling of your stomach
as you fed the latest
statistics on growth.

You who have been shamed
and angered by the fate
of our people in a world
that would not acknowledged
our dignity.

You who feel the emptiness
of an existence drawn only
to the self and to the profit
while the world and its
life pass by you.

Come forth, Filipinos,
and raise the call!

For these times
are not for those
who will remain weak
but rather for those
who would be strong;
not for those
who would hide in fear;
but for those
who show themselves resolute;
not for the hopeless,
but for those
who will continue to dream.

Our people's hope

Our people's resolve

Our people's strength

Sanlakas

(This poem was published at the front page of Maypagasa magazine, the official publication of Sanlakas, Vol. 2, No. 1, October-December 1999)