Of grave doubts, frustrations, bitter desolations,
Of privations, untold indignities, humiliations.

Dreams became nightmares; hopes, despair.
Rally to freedom’s call, no one will dare.
Future is obscured, life has lost its meaning,
The tunnel is long, we’re only at the beginning.

Leaders I admired, whose advice I sought
Became fallen idols, their souls were bought,
Their conscience they bartered for “soft” convenience,
Due to despicable cowardice, they’ve lost their patience.

Leaders became dealers, begging for part of the spoils,
Forgetting the value, the essence of the hottest toil,
Paralyzed be fear, they joined the amoral dictator,
Defending, waving the bloody flag of the new oppressor.

The pillars of society became the props of tyranny,
“Be realistic,” they urged, “if not for safety, for money.”
It is useless to resist, the tyrant is too strong,
Yet aware, with their help the tyranny will prolong.

Mother Pilipinas weeps, her noble sons are gone,
Her land of the morning, is now of the setting sun,
Back to her dungeon in chains she’s been returned;
For all her sacrifices, this is what she earned.

The night is cold and dark, there are no stars,
Our prisons are full, our souls wrinkled with scars,
Afflicted, persecuted, struck down but not crushed,
How soon will this blight be erased by Allah’s brush?

My only escape is to cling to the woman of my dreams
Who gave me a life full of love, a love full of life,
She is my urge to live, my sole motivation to survive,
She taught me not only to dream, but to make dreams alive.
Fight on! She says: Let not the guiltless ghosts depart.
Your pains, our people know are caused by a thousand darts,
But be assuaged, remember the Filipino, his story, his past,
Soon, very soon, the tyrant will choke in his greedy power lust!