Deja Vu Poem by Cheryl L. DaytecYañgot

(On the day the Queen signed the 'anti-terror' law)

With her sun-kissed hands
callused from working the fields
She cups her young daughter’s face
“Whisper your dreams
in the dead of a noisy night
when the crickets ululate
and the frogs croak in unison
The dark has grown wide ears.

The neighbor’s young son isn’t back yet
His mother hasn’t taken off her veil
She has caressed bead after bead
while I scribble notes on a pad
The list has grown longer
I’m spent counting them who vanished
because they took the trajectory of truth
which is the path of the doomed.

Run! Run! Run into the light
Seek the cover of the day
which Darkness shed
Escape the dusk, escape the night
of the 70’s which is back with that
paper they signed last night.
The shadows that were are once more

a strong presence in our midst.”

-7 March 2007