The Commercial Horse In The Crowded City... Poem by RIC BASTASA

the horse in Quiapo
listens to its footsteps

sets on another commercial
trip guided only by
the whipping of
its master,

the driver
who earns only what
is enough for
a day's survival

it is all about himself only
no one else
not for any horse
or this old horse
with stinking dung

on covered eyes it sees no
danger

the reality that the city is crowded
with ten wheeler trucks
and taxis and
jeepneys and luxury cars,
and people without purpose
at all

a native is bloody lying dead
hit by a car without a plate number

another victim of hit and run
there are no stories of interest to tell

the policeman is smoking at the nearby
eatery, reading a komiks magazine


the horse, back to the servant hourse,
it is cool
it is not disturbed at all....