E R M I T A :

What is the shadow behind the headlights

Peering from the windscreen

Of the white-and-yellow cab

Waiting at the curb of Sta. Monica

By the makeshift café

Where the bearded navy man on his liberty

Sleeps the sleep of the just

In the brown bosom of his negotiated love?

The wanderers of the late hour pause

In the orange glare of the gas lamps

They sit at benches of the sidewalk soup kitchens

Hunched over boiled eggs and porridge

Jeepneys grumble in the corner

Stalling for their late fare

The cabbage rose wilts at the sash

Of the sunken-eyed barker of D’Legs Bar

The Shower Act ends at the Zurich

To delighted catcalls and howls

And the girls go limp in their partners’ arms

As the crooner sings Now it’s crying time…

The bar doors open letting go

Of but a pair of lovers spilling light

And muffled laughter on the quiet

Pavements of Del Pilar

And as crooner and escort hail

The white-and-yellow cab—

Take us home past the boulevard

Beyond the meridian of the night—

The bearded sailor stirs

In the brown bosom of his negotiated love

His sleep disturbed by screech of wheels

Cackle of Armalite

MARNE