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Hidalgo's Vendadora

Felix Resurrección Hidalgo, La Vendadora de Lanzones

1

In the late Makiling light 

She treads softly from the slopes

Of the goddess’s orchard. 

 

“Take from my brimming basket

The cool, sweet juice of the hills,”

She asks the two men she meets

 

On the brown path fresh with rain.

The air was fragrant, newly 

Washed, the two men stare at her.

 

One is a priest, the other

A painter. Each must have a taste

From the bunches quite heavy

 

On the round shallow basket

Sitting on her head. She curtsies

To put down her tray of gold.

(A Legend of the Lanzón in Unrhymed Dionas*)

Carnal land

You must be redefined…

 

Mystical land

I unclose the years

Of your unyielding quiet…

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                  Rio Alma

2

The friar then raised his hand

And blessed the fruits, for they were

God’s, he said, the rain’s sweetness

 

Risen from roots, guided by Him

Through stem and leaf and bud and

Flowering: translucent pearls! 

 

And then he bit and chewed and spat

The bitter pit, “Accursed dew,

It’s the Devil’s nectar, phew!”

 

Flinging the fruit aside, he said

“What good, indeed, could ever 

Come from this forsaken land!”

 

In a tempest, the friar stomped

Like a child, and she, saddened,

Watched him vanish down the path.

 

3

The painter took his pearl and 

Looked at the girl for guidance.

“Part the sections tenderly

 

Like you would a garlic’s cloves,

Then eat but avoid the seeds,

For you’ve seen the friar’s fate.”

4

“Maria of the cloudy slopes, 

My mistress, sent you this.

Sometimes you will have to taste

 

The bitter sap, the better 

Way to find the sweetness, her

Only way to touch your heart,

 

Whatever faith or purpose

Takes you through the world. But you,

You understand beauty more—

 

All its turns, like life, of which

The bitter sap is part; like light

Whose color is shadow too!

 

Come then, and with your wiser 

Eyes, bless my land, make it shine

In the colors of your art.

 

                           April 30; October 26, 2007

But the painter bit into

The bitterness that now filled

His mouth. Still he kept his peace,

 

Held his tongue and did not spit

The bitter pit, but took it

In his hand and kept it there.

 

Again he ate the half-moon 

Part without the seed, and his

Face was filled with rare delight.

Pale as the sunrise behind

The mountain, the yellow skin

Enwrapped the soft pearl within.

“Take,” she said, peeling the one

And then the other, which she

Smiling handed to either.

*Old Tagalog verse form of seven-syllable rhymed tercets.

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