‘Nightmares loosed…’
Well over a week ago, I posted excerpts of a famous poem that appears to portend what might be happening to our country in the lead-up to and following this momentous day. Here I share it in full: “The Second Coming” by William Butler Yeats:
“Turning and turning in the widening gyre?/ The falcon cannot hear the falconer;?/ Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;?/ Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,?/ The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere?/ The ceremony of innocence is drowned;?/ The best lack all conviction, while the worst?/ Are full of passionate intensity.//
“Surely some revelation is at hand;?/ Surely the Second Coming is at hand.?/ The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out?/ When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi?/ Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;?/ A shape with lion body and the head of a man,?/ A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,?/ Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it?/ Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.//
“The darkness drops again but now I know?/ That twenty centuries of stony sleep?/ Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,?/ And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,?/ Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?”
This poem was written in 1919 in the aftermath of the first World War. The version quoted above was what appeared in the edition of Michael Robartes and the Dancer dated 1920. There are numerous other versions of the poem, with a few changes in the lines, here and there.
Several days later, good friend Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo, director of the UST Creative Writing Center, commented that the passages I had quoted reminded her of “the closing paragraph of Ninotchka Rosca’s novel, Twice Blessed, which carries for me the same sense of sharp foreboding, of terrifying things to come...”
She quotes NY-based Ninotchka: “... heaven help her, in this night of celebration, and she could leave behind that sinister globe of mirrors which threw back — what? — images of the past and the future, oh, if she could leave now, before dawn broke over palace, city, and archipelago, and everyone awoke to find his nightmares loose upon the land.”
The blood-dimmed tide… or nightmares loosed upon the land? Come on, if you’re neither a ’tard nor a turd, you must know what Yeats’ portentous poetry and/or Rosca’s pellucid prose happen to be referring to.
“(T)he worst? (that) (a)re full of passionate intensity,” we have had to truck with in social media: ill-mannered, foul-mouthed mobster bullies brandishing their arrant viciousness. To be fair, I must say that other supporters of the “rough beast” of a slouch perceived as a redeemer of sorts didn’t quite join the bandwagon show of arrogance and anger.
“(B)efore dawn broke over palace, city, and archipelago…” wrote Nina years ago, prescient as she was. Replace “Bethlehem” with that palace by the river, in the noble and ever loyal city of Nick Joaquin, and you have the beast from the southern part of our archipelago slouching towards occupancy.
Dear old Aeschylus, as quoted by writer/editor/artist Ding Roces in Sydney, also had this to say: “(T)hough they had eyes to see, they saw to no avail; they had ears, but understood not; but, like to shape in dreams, throughout their length of days, without purpose they wrought all things in confusion.”
I recall good old times of the mid-1980s. “Confucius say: He who hah, hee hah!” That in turn was how Santiago Bose, late lamented, used to joke about verities.
Verily, the galaxy seems to have it in for us. As of April 28, we’ve been subject to a rather rare phenomenon, with five planets on retrograde at the same time: Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto.
From Deus Nexus Wordpress (Messages for an Entangled Universe):
“If you’re a believer in astrology, this is a period of a few weeks where you may want to just stay in bed as much as possible…. Mercury retrograde is very common, and that’s when you normally have things like computer glitches and problems with communication and technology. The general consensus in astrology… is this is a bad time to make any kind of business dealings or sign any contracts. Don’t even think about starting a new project or business venture until Mercury gets out of retrograde…. Mars retrograde is a bit of a problem child, as well. The planet Mars is full of fire and energy… but if you’re a real go-getter, this is a time when you’re probably going to need to slow down.
“… Jupiter, which rules good fortune, has actually been in retrograde for several months now, and is about to end its retrograde phase on May 9, so just hang in a little bit longer for that planetary influence to return to normal. If it wasn’t for the other retrograde planets, you might start seeing some relief and removal of roadblocks…, but for those pesky other planets still in retrograde. At least Jupiter will be one less proverbial straw piling on the camel’s back after May 9.
“Pluto rules death, rebirth… and transformation, so with this planet in retrograde, you may be doing a lot of soul-searching and thinking about what things in your life you need to get rid of for a fresh start.
“… And then there’s Saturn, which already has a tendency to vex us all. Saturn rules over karma, limitations, and hard work. He’s the father figure and the great disciplinarian, and more so when Saturn is in retrograde… While this may be a painful time of growth and hard work, it’s necessary and will clear the way for something much better.”
We should hope so. Or cling to a last thread of hope, by way of another astrological reading, this time by our very own Resti Santiago in his Astro Year 2016 Forecast. On the “Transit for the Philippines New Moon on 7 May 2016,” he writes:
“There will be luck because of women. There will be recognition for women... There will be improvement in trade.” Specifically, Resti adds:
“An eclipse can have an effect from about six months to 12 months. The 2016 Presidential Election, which happens in May, is within the range of the influence of the September eclipse. The solar eclipse in September 2015 fell in the 21st degree or the third decan of Virgo and activated several people whose chart is riddled with this sign.
“Among the presidential candidates, Vice President Jejomar Binay is the only one who doesn’t have a planet in Virgo…. To find out who among them have the strongest Virgo influence and is most favored, we have to look at the Aries ingress chart. In symbols it will be a battle between Venus and Mars or between a male and a female candidate, or between someone ruled by Venus and someone ruled by Mars.”
Hmm. Could it be? I’ve supported a particular candidate who appears to be referred to above. While electoral defeat has been staring us in the face, thanks to recent surveys (which I happen to believe in, even more than the stars’ influence), I am content to have fought the good fight as she has. I will still vote for her, even if symbolically it’ll mean going down fighting.
Meanwhile, a manifesto written by distinguished author Miguel Syjuco, who’s based abroad, has gained the signatures of over 80 of our writers. I’m afraid I can’t join in, not because I don’t believe in the words, ideas and principles articulated, but simply because I vowed to myself a long time ago that I wouldn’t ever sign a manifesto. A personal quirk, let’s say. But here are excerpts:
“I am a Filipino writer.
“I am one among journalists, fictionists, poets, essayists, bloggers, screenwriters, graphic storytellers, copywriters, playwrights, editors… Citizens, all — in a perilous place to wield a pen.
“I stand for unfettered expression — to discuss, dispute, debate, dissent. For democracy is respectful disagreement — change persuaded, never imposed. And freedom cannot be dictated, for the right to speech empowers all others: to worship, and participate in society, to cry against injustice, and call for what is just.
“… Ours is a time when righteousness and faith are weaponized into fear and savagery, and life is dispensible to opinion and ideology. All of us, Filipinos, live in a country where facts are spun as black propaganda, and dynasties stage a masquerade of choice, and leaders prosper on our weakness and disunity. Ours is a society broken by those who benefit from its breaking.
“I refuse to let that be the story of our people.
“… Try to censor me and I will find a way — to immortalize your infamy, defame your legacy, tell your children’s children with accuracy of what you did and precisely all you failed to do. Your punishment will stretch through the pages of perpetuity. This I vow. To this I will see.
“For all histories have shown: Elections pass, systems crumble, but stories remain. Assassinate one of us — but another speaks louder. Pass laws to make us criminals — but our writing blooms beyond their reach. … Your weapons may be violence and money, but our tools are vigilance and memory.
“For I am a Filipino. I am a writer.
“This I vow, and this you will see: I shall not be silent. I cannot be silenced. I am not alone — our writing remembers, our laughter reminds. The truth of you the world will know. And it starts right here, with me.”
The following are my own words, a reprise if somewhat revised of a column I wrote for Illustrado magazine published in Dubai in its May 2016 issue. I try for a hopeful note in my conclusion
With Duterte’s impending win (possibly with another improbable “bad boy” in the person of Bongbong Marcos as Vice President), indeed much lamentation fills the air. “The time of the orcs has come,” say the mythically inclined. And why not, with allegations of human rights violations perpetrated by this frontrunner, not the least of which have been more than a thousand “kills” by the Davao Death Squad, inclusive of innocent victims.
But now recriminations will be flying post-mortem. VP Binay was the earliest frontrunner, given his imagined war chest and long-time preparation for this contest. But the corruption allegations mounted against him without letup (mainly by the Administration) took their toll, and his numbers have kept tumbling.
Grace Poe then challenged Binay’s erstwhile lead, and took over pole position, despite all the legal challenges. But by the time she cleared the Supreme Court, enough damage had been done with the daily dose of blackprop against her.
Unfortunately for him, Mar Roxas could never take off the ground despite the presidential anointment. Some say it it was also an albatross. Alas, now even President Noynoy’s legacy of personal honesty that has propelled economic advancement looks imperiled by the speculation that his term also filled up the quota of impatience over government mismanagement.
Poe will be blamed for having taken away from putative votes for the LP ticket, but it will be argued back that Roxas still wouldn’t have risen over his plateau of 18 percent even without her in the contest.
And so, for the centrists, liberals and thinking class, from Binay being the initial bogey to Grace serving as possible fresh hope, it now appears that a bigger bogey is poised to take the pie. Heaven help us, exclaim the majority that outnumber the plurality.
The sane view is to hope that this plurality that would have voted him in had the right feel all along, that Duterte can effect the positive radical change they’ve wanted — if he manages to chuck off all those bogeyman aspects that disturb people who prefer to keep their children civilized and respectful of human life, rights and liberties.
