+JMJ+

The Last Poem . . . of 2011

And because I'm "honest to a fault," I'll admit the bulk of it was written in 2012. =P (Ah, backdating . . .)

This poem would have been done much earlier, had I not insisted on having the prompts my way this time around--and I had some very definite ideas.

The main image in the question immediately made me think of mountains--and what sealed the deal was a trip back to my Favourite Place on Planet Earth, whether there is a small hill with all the gravitas of Everest. My poem, I promised, would be about Corregidor.

It just took longer to write than I had dared to think . . . but at least it comes with pictures!!!

Word: Magnificent
Question: What am I doing under this blanket?

Magnificent it is, though not a mountain
And once a man-made second womb for night
Where blood and tears were flowing like a fountain
From weeping wounds of war and dynamite

Here hundreds lay awake against its darkness
Sleep as much a distant dream as stars
Shrouded by its silence and its starkness
Beneath a limestone blanket stitched with scars

So strange to walk here as one of the living
A ghost in someone else's early grave
To rise like the sun that goes on giving
And blesses all who come out of this cave

As happy as I am to have finished my poem for December 2011, I feel sad that it doesn't capture everything I feel about Corregidor--and everything Corregidor would mean even if I had never been there to feel it.

If you ever get the chance to visit the Philippines, please do take a day or two to explore Corregidor Island.