A Philosophy Poem by RIC BASTASA

it is not how tall the buildings have grown
the presence of three elevators
that is not what progress is all about

you are telling me about how ateneo
has become an ivory tower rising above
the silence of Mt. Apo

so unlike our times
when rooms are crowded when noise
grow like grasses on the wild fields
uninhabited

let me ask you what happened to the playgrounds
of the children
and the chapel where Fr. Dot says mass all day
is the pine tree still there
and the pond beside
where the gold fish are swimming?

let me sense the essence of our lives
not getting much not accumulating power
not really going back to dusty chairs
but just being here
without acquiring
and yet still feeling so whole and complete

in that peace and quiet inside our hearts
under that tree that they have cut
twenty years ago