Act I: The Field That No Longer Sprouts
The winds of time blow, bringing news of a field that no longer sprouts
Once a place where dreamers planted meaning in the soil of language
Now only rows of cogon grass whistle because of silence
The bubbling of thought is no longer heard from the furnace of the inner self
All that remains is the clownish song of mask sellers who know no shame.
In a place once known as a studio of reason and feeling
Now filled with wanderers selling mirror reflections
The mirror is not for seeing, but for selling oneself
They scream in the silent market, selling empty laughter
Scattering colors that cannot ignite light within the chest
“What is the use of eyes, if they do not want to see deeply?”
Whispered the old tree that once sheltered the mind
Act II: Amidst the Banquet of Uninvited Guests
Behold, the guests come without cards
Entering the courtyard of virtue, seated at the altar of the soul
They serve a concoction of words without taste
Foreign dishes that satisfy emptiness
Children of this age no longer eat from their mother’s spoon
They are force-fed fog, nursed with dust
Their faces shine with a false luster
But their chests are empty, shameless
At the edge of the guest room, the Host muses in silence
He cannot refuse the influx of guests knocking
But he knows in his silence
That not all are worthy to be given a seat at the table of value
He holds a fine sieve of ancient wisdom
That can only be used by hands scarred by wounds
Act III: The Flame Hidden in the Ashes
Do you still remember the wooden hut on the hill of consciousness?
Where poets once lit lanterns through flowing verse
Where the wind whispered in the language of conscience
And silent birds delivered news from the high sky
Now, the hut is just ruins
Yet from the crack in the ashes, there is charcoal that has not gone out
The ember is hidden by those who do not submit
Who write on stone, not on dust
Who choose to be a well, not a fountain
Who flow swiftly only to quench the thirst of shadows
They are keepers of the night, guardians of light that does not need spotlight
Not those who chase the glitter in the eyes of others
But those who weave meaning in the darkness
So that tomorrow, when dawn comes
Humans do not wake as Machines
But return to beings who remember why they were given heart and feeling
Epilogue:
This song is not a lament
But a bell that sings amidst the long sleep of the inner nation
Not to condemn the times
But to realize that the lamp still exists
Even if it is small, hidden, and often deemed useless