Joey Ayala at Balagtas Day celebration in Pandacan
Curtain-raiser:
• Funfare will be sober this week. To help set the mood, here’s an inspiring story sent to me by GMA wardrobe stylist Sander Andan:
One day, a blind boy was waiting for someone to drop a coin into his can so he could buy food. He had a blackboard beside him with this message: “I’m blind. Please have pity on me.”
Suddenly, a man approached the boy, dropped a coin and erased the message. The boy felt it but ignored it.
After an hour, the man came back and asked the boy how he was doing. The boy replied, “My can is full of coins. What did you write on my board?”
The man read it to the boy: “Today is a beautiful day, but I cannot see it.”
* * *
The legendary Filipino contemporary pop musician and poet Joey Ayala will perform at the unveiling of a new marker at the Balagtas Shrine in Pandacan, Manila, today, in celebration of this year’s Francisco Balagtas Day.
The Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika at Anyo (LIRA), the leading organization of poets writing in Filipino, collaborates once again with the Office of Manila Mayor Alfredo S. Lim for the Balagtas Day commemoration which will kick off at 7 a.m. at the poet’s shrine at Beata St., Pandacan, and where the famous author of Florante at Laura lived.
LIRA poet Dr. Vim Nadera. Left: National Artist for Literature Virgilio S. Almario The unveiling of a new marker, the revision of which was initiated by LIRA founder and adviser, National Artist for Literature Virgilio S. Almario (the poet Rio Alma), will also be highlighted by Almario’s public lecture titled Ang Bayan ni Balagtas.
LIRA poets Dr. Michael M. Coroza, Dr. Vim Nadera, and LIRA officers Phillip Kimpo and Louie Jon Sanchez will read poems and excerpts from Balagtas’ works. Dean Elena Mirano of the U.P. College of Arts and Letters will also present a musical number.
During the event, LIRA and Mayor Lim will also launch the Andres Bonifacio Sesquicentennial programs which will commence next year.
The Francisco Balagtas Day has become an annual pilgrimage for LIRA for the past two years.
In 2009, at the height of the National Artists scandal, LIRA mounted a symbolic clean-up of the shrine to call for a renewed commitment in Philippine arts and culture.
Last year, the organization began to work with the City of Manila in celebrating the premiere poet’s contribution in Philippine culture.
(For particulars, call James Tana [0915-9765157] or RR Cagalingan [0917-5615024]).
A touching poem left by dead father
Here’s a poem sent to Funfare by my doctor-friend Roland de la Eva (a sleep specialist at St. Luke’s Medical Center) who found it a few days after his father died last February:
Mall of Heaven
Minsan ako’y naglalakad sa landas ng buhay
May nakita akong di pangkarinawang pamilihan
Sa harap ay mababasa “Mall of Heaven”
Nang ako’y malapit na, malaking pintua’y bumukas
Bumati sa aki’y mga nakangiting anghel
Isa isa’y nakangiti, yukod ulo ako’y pinatuloy
“Good morning sir, shop with care!”
Kakaibang paninda ang aking namalas
Pawang pang kabanalan ang mga paninda
Sa unang hanay isa-isa kong dinampot, kinuha – Paniniwala, Pag-ibig at Pagmamahal
At dinampot ko na rin ang Pang unawa.
Pagkat ito ay kailangan saan man magpunta.
Sa pangalawang hanay, isang supot ng Karunungan, sa pangatlo ay isang bigkis ng Lakas at Tapang, na kinakailangan sa anumang larangan ng labanan.
Ang Holy Spirit hindi ko rin kinalimutan sapagkat Siya’s naroroon saan mang lunan
Hindi ko rin inalpasa’t kinalimutan ang Salvation
Sapagkat ang kaligtasan ay isang kalayaan.
At sapagkat napuno na ang dala kong lalagyan.
Tinungo ko na ang lugar na bayaran
Sa paglalakad ay nakita ko ang librong Dasalan
Akin na ring kinuha sa kinalalagyan
Pagkat kailangan sa pagdarasal sa gabi at araw.
Anupat ang malaking Mall ay maraming paninda
Tulad ng Peace, Joy, Songs, Praises, at iba pa
Ang buong Mall ay tahimik at payapa
May himig musika, tula at kanta
Ang tanging nadarama’y tuwa at ligaya
Pagsapit ko sa kahera tanong ko sa anghel
“Magkano po ang lahat ang dapat kong bayaran?”
“Dalhin mo na iyong pinamili,” tugon ng anghel
Aking iginiit, “magkano ba talaga?”
“Anak pinamili mo, bayad na.”
“Sinong nagmagandang loob?”
“Ating Panginoong, si Jesus!”
“Kailan po?”
“Matagal na……”
+ Lamberto J. de la Eva Sr. 1926-2012
40th day on March 22, 2012
(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. You may also send your questions to [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos visit http://www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on www.twitter/therealrickylo.)
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