COLORING SHADOWS (ver. 3)

 by Patt Familara

On the day that GODS conquered our land

Our freedom, wealth, and soul are devoured by GUNS.

The color RED flooded the earth

That drifts beneath our raging SUN.

People fought and died for IT;

Against the monstrous tyranny from the EAST

Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat were offered

To regain the stolen freedom of our past.

With the aim for freedom, a Flag was weaved

With the sun and three stars that made us amalgamated;

The color of red conveys strength for those who tussled

With a shade of blue that tells us that we are united.

Then a hymn was sung on the 12th of June 1898

Uttering meaningful words that declare sovereignty

An anthem that was sung on that historical balcony

And a flag that symbolizes that we are now FREE!

From FEAR to GLADNESS people celebrated

For that short-lived freedom that was never accepted

Months later gunfire was heard

Commencing another threat coming from the buyer.

Once again we, the natives were conquered;

By new gods that promised education to everyone

Ships started to arrive with TOMMIES inside

That trained us to bark like BOW-WOW-WOW

 Years passed, the Brown was covered by white

And started to live in the shadows of our New Gods

We now to hate the things that we have

Even the brown color of the skin we possess

Hundreds of Years under the colonizers

We now lost our identity that came from our forefathers

A shade of GREY was left from our vibrant rainbow,

That once shined from our clear blue sky.

Hope from the Orient once again renewed

That in a few years’ time their land will be liberated

From those who made us thinking

That WHITES are a superior human being

Then a plane from the sky flew over the Capitol

A bomb was dropped on a lovely harbor

Armies of gods from our neighbor

Forcibly took control of our buyers

Women were raped, Children were bayoneted

By the monsters from the land where the Sun Rises

Killing innocent lives to those who blocked

Making GARDENs grow like how the mushrooms bloom

For the next THREE years people suffered;

FEAR once again ruled over those who grieved

HANDS that once were FREE were now knotted

The gods came from the north of the Earth.

Then A-Bombs were dropped on the land of the occupiers,

That forced them to left on the land that writhed

Leaving the ROSES on the lonely hills

That WEPT on the GARDENS that the gods have created

A PROMISE that was made by a man from the EAST

The ORIENT was freed, granting freedom at least

On the Day they called independence of the WEST

The SONG of the BROWNS was sung at its best.

But the fight for freedom was not OVER yet

Communist ideologies rose to POWER, a new threat

Marshall Law was imposed, and rights were STRIPPED

The people suffered, their VOICES silenced and lips zipped

Then a leader emerged, a man named Ninoy

He fought for the people, and their CRIES he did not ignore

But his life was taken, in a fateful assassination

Leaving the nation in shock, with deep consternation

His wife, Corazon, stepped up to lead the fight

But her reign was fraught with struggles, not a smooth flight

The people's trust in her wavered, and she lost the election

But the people were not done, they sought a new direction

A revolution was sparked, a PEOPLE POWER uprising

The DICTATOR was overthrown, and the people's voices arising

FREEDOM was regained, and democracy restored

But the journey was long and the fight far from over.

The colors of the flag still wave, red, blue, and white

But the SHADOWS of the past still lingers in sight

The people strive for progress, for a brighter tomorrow

In hope that the colors of freedom will once again BORROW.