Philippine literature , Gabu by Carlos A. Angeles

Gabu

by Carlos A. Angeles

The battering restlessness of the sea
Insists a tidal fury upon the beach
At Gabu, and its pure consistency
Havocs the wasteland hand within its reach
Brutal the daylong bashing of its heart
Against the seascape where, for miles around,
Farther than sight itself, the rockstones part
And drop into the element wound.

The waste of centuries in Grey and dead
And natural where the sea has beached its brine,
Where the split salt of its heart lies spread
Among the dark habiliments of time.

The vital splendor misses. For here, here
At Gabu where the ageless tide recurs
All things forfeited are most loved and dear.
It is the sea pursues a habit of shores.

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Carlos A. Angeles was born in Tacloban, Leyte in 1912. He wrote poetry during his time in college. Some of his poems were collected in "The Knifed Horizon". He once served as chief of the Manila Bureau of the International News Service. He won the first Palanca Award for poetry. He was also an awardee of the Republic Heritage Award in 1964 for his book. "A Stun of Jewels".

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