Youth Speaks (poem reflection)

YOUTH SPEAKS -Amador Daguio We voice no apologies We were caused by our time. What we say happened to us Who have dared cold horizon. So we say to you all We, too have task to perform. We love this country no less Than lawmakers, money lenders. Governors, factory owners. Or hacienderos we offer Our strength for foundations But first, we must clear this land. We must cut down thick jungles. Before we can lay strong foundations, We must drain protozoan marshes. Burn old sores, cancerous flesh. Fathers, elders, why disinherit us? We who are young, longing and lonely. Why do you poison our growth? What if we are not of the privileged? We love our country even much more Perhaps than those who wallow in security. If we denounce wrongs, know that Our cry begs for our need? We do not wreck; we wish to perform. To plant proud blooms that will live- Allow us then, give us your trust.
REFLECTION: We all have voices and sometimes some were not heard or inhibited especially those whose hands hold our future- youth. Constantly vociferating but often unheard, they flutter their conflagrating sentiment for their needs at times in order to survive this society of conflicting rages; the question is do we really listen? They are the product of time and the seed of what the generation would become. The foundation of interminably changing transition of the society that needs to be cultivated and taken care of. I first encountered this poem on an English subject when I was a High School freshman and as a youth I genuinely felt emphatetic that somehow our voices should be looked upon by adults who runs our environment, who guides us on our steps and set our rules for conformity. How about those younglings who became polluted with hedonistic implications of their egoistic habitats that behind those personas they resemble are lonely children who are deprived to speak and express themselves? Those confusing inquiries that rotates among their worlds? Shouldn’t we trust them on doing what they want to achieve with support and encouragement? -Flordeliz A. Fullo