The Philippines is at War!

Grabbed from Yahoo

It's the intent, not the mistake. This international athlete, showing his gesture of support to the victims of typhoon Yolanda runs out waving the Philippine flag not knowing that it was upside down - a symbol that the Philippines is at war. Had this been done in ordinary times, the Filipinos could have had a feast pouncing on him. However, in these desperate times, the Filipinos are even touched by the gesture. On hindsight, i think the Philippines is indeed at war - at war against environmental destruction, poverty and at war against corruption by government officials. Let the flag fly with the red on the upper side until government corruption, poverty and environmental destruction cease in this country!

Dawn of War

It flies, a solitary black crow
Above the debris of damaged homes
Abandoned in fear and dread
Beyond the parched and barren lands
Fields untended and forsaken.



The echoes of children at play,
Of flopping cows on roads and farms
Of women preparing an evening meal,
Dogs and chickens, cats and bats,
Are now but figments of the past.

For now it is a land of death
That wails and weeps of lives unsaved
Parched from the the stream of blood that flowed
Mute to the cries and welts of battle
Numb to the scorching summer heat.

Oh yes it weeps but still it glides
As it aims at the distant single tree
To rest its wings and heal its heart
To gain its strength to guard the land
Until that seeds of freedom sprout.

(Manja, Mar. 31, 2013, Sri Lanka)