HIS LIFE IS WORTH FIGHTING FOR TO THE DEATH
Alexander Martin Remollino

For Monico M. Atienza –- activist, writer, and teacher

On the sickbed he wrestles with Death
mightily, and he is winning thus far.
His again is the breath,
the breath that Death tried to seize –-
and his hold this time is surer.

Even as his heart threatened to beat its last,
he insisted he was fine.

He is no stranger to uphill battles for his life.
He had done it before
and he has done it again.
From all indications,
he will be locked in a duel with Death
as long as there’s an ounce of strength in him.

And rightly so,
for his is the kind of life
that is worth fighting for to the death.
It is a life
that was never like a gun without bullets,
that was never like a pen without ink.

In the annals of our benighted land,
his name shines with the full glory of light
and not with the blinding glitter of falsehood.

With all his might he wrestles with Death,
and rightly so.
His life is worth fighting for to the death.