Be Like Poem by Ulysses Cabinatan

Don’t be like the hyena of the jungle
With doglike grin, annoying to look at
Greedily waiting for its next meal

Don’t be like a vulture in the desert, flapping its wings on the air
With naked head, preying for the rotten

Don’t be a piranha of the freshwater
Waiting to attack any moving thing

Don’t be like a maggot
Enjoying the decaying matter of the past

But be like a gazelle, enjoying the freedom
Gracefully hops on the meadow

Be like the eagle
Soaring freely, on the open air of liberty

Be like the dolphins
Playfully enjoying the vastness of the deep sea…


Be like the butterfly,
Ready to accept the next stage, leaving its cocoon