I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness running the streets naked

                  mesmerized possessed transfixed by ignorance and indifference maddened by

                  blood lust

Induced by their Supreme Leader to kill kill kill the innocent the poor the suspect

                  the criminal punished without a crime without trial without due process under

                  no rule of law in a reign of insanity

I saw them ignorant indifferent to civilization’s highest mark the right of humans

                  to live without fear to work unhindered to become their better selves

I saw them bristle and scoff and laugh hysterically at the mere mention of human rights

                  saying they were for the protection of criminals not knowing they were for the

                  protection of themselves

I saw and heard them maddened mesmerized transfixed by the chorus to kill kill kill

                  orchestrated by the Madman they elected consecrated with their miserable plurality  

 

I saw them in uniform behind black masks riding motorcycles felling their targets

                  on the sidewalk on city streets in the dirty slums under the handsome high-rises

I saw them kill kill kill: Enforcers of the law become executioners of the law in order

                  enforce the law

I saw them kill kill kill only the poor of whom I saw only their feet in flip-flops splayed

                  lifeless in dark alleys under police cars near faucets where they wanted to slake 

                  their thirst

I saw them give the lifeless hand an obsolete .38 caliber to hold and all they had to show

                  invariably were the victim’s pockets filled with measly grams of crack shabu

                  crystal meth no self-respecting pusher would carry

I heard them say they fought back so they were shot at and left the victims’ hands

                  twisted at the back the rope or handcuffs removed no one heard them pleading

                  for their life

I saw the little girl hit by bullet but the father survived

I saw the little girl hit by bullet lying by her dead companion and her Barbie Doll

I heard the chorus sing this must be done to save our country and they kept killing and

                  chanting kill kill kill

 

I saw the best minds of my generation applauding cheering kill kill kill

I saw the senators and congressmen joining the chorus kill kill kill

I saw them dancing like chimpanzees in the august halls chanting kill kill kill

I saw them laughing like hyenas baring their fangs tearing at their victims while still

                  alive

I saw the TV newsmen and women the radio announcers with their bad grammar turn

                  glassy eyed spouting gibberish never mentioning death on the streets but

                  joining the chorus kill kill kill

I heard the priests delivering sermons speaking in tongues about the goodness of the Gospels

                 but nothing about the kill kill kill

I heard nothing from the lawyers and the doctors and the respected educated

                  professors teaching the youngest minds of my generation but not a peep about  

                  kill kill kill

 

I heard I saw my president elected enshrined in Malacañang proclaiming to one & all

                  the deposed Dictator kicked out at EDSA spirited to Hawaii by his American

                  sponsors was his idol

Whom he adored imitated & whose machinations were his model whose mind he did

                  not equal but whose savagery he surpassed with his obsession & vision to        

                   kill kill kill

I heard I saw my president elected enshrined in Malacañang spewing his favorite

                  expletives Putang Ina I will kill you I will kill more of you I will kill more for you

                  kill kill kill and no one said anything else no one said anything else

I saw my president become the Supreme Leader Supreme Madman transfix mesmerize

                  madden the best minds of my generation and induce them to kill kill kill

And all joined the best minds of my generation singing the chorus antiphonal

                  polyphonic in unison kill kill kill

And no one said we must stop this insanity to kill kill kill stop the Mad Beast in our

                  midst if all us and our home and our democracy must live live live

 

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Marne Kilates

4 November 2016

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(PHOTO: Noel Celis, Getty Images)

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