HIS LIFE WAS NOT GLITTER BUT LIGHT
Alexander Martin Remollino

In memory of Monico M. Atienza -- revolutionary, writer and teacher (1947-2007)

Death tried thrice to take him:
the first and second attempts were failures,
and the third was the last.
He vehemently refused to just let go of life like that:
twice he stubbornly resisted Death's attempts on him --
even as he had a wound that refused to heal,
even as his consciousness refused to return.

And rightly so, for his
was a life that was worth fighting for to the death.
In a nation grown enamored by the glitter of foil,
his life was not glitter but light:
a bright star, steadfast amidst the dark sky and long night
in this "country of our sorrows."