My photo
ALBERT B. CASUGA, a Philippine-born writer, lives in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, where he continues to write poetry, fiction, and criticism after his retirement from teaching and serving as an elected member of his region's school board. He was nominated to the Mississauga Arts Council Literary Awards in 2007. A graduate of the Royal and Pontifical University of St. Thomas (now University of Santo Tomas, Manila. Literature and English, magna cum laude), he taught English and Literature (Criticism, Theory, and Creative Writing) at the Philippines' De La Salle University and San Beda College. He has authored books of poetry, short stories, literary theory and criticism. He has won awards for his works in Canada, the U.S.A., and the Philippines. His latest work, A Theory of Echoes and Other Poems was published February 2009 by the University of Santo Tomas Publishing House. His fiction and poetry were published by online literary journals Asia Writes and Coastal Poems recently. He was a Fellow at the 1972 Silliman University Writers Workshop, Philippines. As a journalist, he worked with the United Press International and wrote an art column for the defunct Philippines Herald.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

MARIE CLEMENTINE



MARIE CLEMENTINE

(b. September 16, 2011, 10th Grandchild, a Perfect 10!)*


Mild, merciful, a small orange:
you would have to tell those
who would ask what your name
means like all tags could mean
anything from noone to someone
but pray, not anonymous. Never. 

For from this day forward, love,
when the sun is a lambent light,
when the rain is a gentle spray,
when the wind is a soft caress,
when all that is harsh is salved,
we shall call them all clement.  

And we will remember you,
Marie Clementine, like the mild
dawn that greeted you when you
slipped quickly out of her womb,
mercifully sparing your mother
the pain that birth is twinned with. 

Did your laughing père not call you
a little citrus fruit, a tiny orange
wailing your little heart out when
you quivered into our tired world?
O, Marie Clementine! O clement,
O loving, O sweet mother of God. 

When angelus descends at dusk,
You become a prayer, too, Marie.


---Albert B. Casuga
09-17-11


* A description only an excited grandmother like Lourdes Veronica (Nicky) Lim-Casuga could muster. Marie Clementine, our 10th grandchild, is her parents' --- Martin Lalonde and Adele Casuga-Lalonde --- unmatchable gift for abuela Nicky's birthday on September 17.

1 comment:

features/rosie said...

Congratulations, Sir. GOD bless Marie Clementine!