Leaving (Poem)

Leaving

Levy Abad 

I’m journeying tomorrow to a distant land

And wondering what the future holds for me

Hoping that this venture will bring a better life

Wishing it’s all worth the misery

You and me, countless others take this leap of faith

Gambling all into the hands of fate

Leaving all relations to the cost of distance

And a sad song that will be playing through the years

Who knows of the burden that we’ve been carrying

Or the colored walls that we have to climb

Who can share the struggles that this journey is asking

As we take on unfamiliar times

If only things were different that we don’t have to leave

And home is free of hard times brought about by greed

If only empires crumble by itself without a fight

You and I may never be here tonight.

And so often there’s this endless yearning to look back

To embrace the motherland that brought us up

And in the silence of the night we cry to be forgiven

While the souls of our forbears call us home.

At times under the neon lights we find ourselves grieving

For friends and comrades slain to set us free

In our weakness we left them alone to do the fighting

Through the violence of darkness to break free

                                    

Sadly, reality comes to wake us up

And here we are scattered and trying to rise up

And so we gather strength through bonds of living hope

Care for one another to build a better world.

(Published on the article Bayanihan and Belonging: Filipinos in Manitoba - Alison Marshall, Department of Religion, Brandon University, Manitoba History: The Journal of the Manitoba Historical Society, Fall 2014, No. 76, page 17)