SOCIETY AND

LITERATURE
Michael Angelo
Alonzo
Caseylyn Gravidez
BSE –
MATHEMATICS II-
1
???
 Virgilio S.
Almario
Virgilio Senadren Almario, better
known by his pen name, Rio
Alma, is a Filipino artist, poet,
critic, translator, editor, teacher,
and cultural manager. He is a
National Artist of the Philippines.
 Born March 9, 1944 in San Miguel, Bulacan
 National Artist in 2003
 Famous as a translator of poems, plays,
and novels, particularly of the works of
Jose Rizal.
 A poet, literary critic, publisher and editor
of anthologies and children’s literature, a
scholar, professor, conductor of literary
workshops, and cultural administrator and
propagator.
 HIS POETRY COLLECTION INCLUDES

Palipad-Hangin. (1985)
Katon Para sa Limang Pandama. (1987)
Sentimental. (2004)
Estremelenggoles. (2004)
Memo Mulang Gimokudan. (2005)
Dust Devils. (2005)
Sonetos Postumos, book of poems with translation by Marne
Kilates and paintings by National Artist Ang Kiukok. (2006)
Tatlong Pasyon sa Ating Panahon, poems for children with
illustrations by Mark Justiniani, Neil Doloricon, Ferdinand Doctolero.
(2006)
Buwan, Buwang, Bulawan. (2009)
THE CHILDREN
OF TOIL MUST
NOW BE HEARD
THE CHILDREN OF TOIL MUST NOW BE HEARD
(An excerpt from Una't Huling Pasyon ni Rio Alma)
Virgilio Almario

The Children of Toil must now be heard.

 
From the cradle of Lullabys and boats-songs,
Battle-songs and love-songs of the south and north;
From the soft wingbeat of ricebird and egret,
In the dream of west wind and halting breath;
From the chiaroscuro of dawnlight and approaching rain,
And the soiled bones of cogon and turned earth.
 THE CHILDREN OF TOIL MUST NOW BE HEARD
(An excerpt from Una't Huling Pasyon ni Rio Alma)
Virgilio Almario

The Children of Toil must now be heard.

 
From dimming dreams that doom the cry of the newborn
And the hope in the tears of the lovelorn;
From the bowed souls of the brown race,
Weighed down by time and fate;
From the brown lips parched for love,
For the blessings of the sun and the universe.
THE CHILDREN OF TOIL MUST NOW BE HEARD
(An excerpt from Una't Huling Pasyon ni Rio Alma)
Virgilio Almario

The Children of Toil must now be heard.

 
From the ancient peasant calling to the breezes
While winnowing grains of famine:
From the bent shadows soaking in the drizzle,
In the furrowed paddies at planting time: at harvest time
Reaping chaff, and at threshing cut by haystalk and anguish;
From the memory that sprouts together with the May rain,
Urged by the slingshot and cavorting of children,
Prodded by levee, lovegrass and blade of cogon,
Enticed by the west wind bringing smells of rice cakes,
Only to die with the summer, to be interred
Among the cracks, the dry tracks and firewood.
 THE CHILDREN OF TOIL MUST NOW BE HEARD
(An excerpt from Una't Huling Pasyon ni Rio Alma)
Virgilio Almario

The Children of Toil must now be heard.

 
From the huddled shanties and squalid thatch-huts:
From the gutters and canals, alleys and barrios and fields;
From sweaty, tuberculous breasts;
From the toothless grins around the peasant table
Laid with a bottle of gin, jug of cane wine and fried anchovies;
From hands used to foraging among fly-infested garbage- in the music
Of the urchin's dream to dig up
At least bones and other leavings.
 THE CHILDREN OF TOIL MUST NOW BE HEARD
(An excerpt from Una't Huling Pasyon ni Rio Alma)
Virgilio Almario
The Children of Toil must now be heard.
 
From the breathing choked by the effluvia of street canal and factory;
From the thick brew
Of asphalt-sweat-body odor-carbons-grease-dust-blood-vomit,
Inside tunnels, trucks, trains, jeepney, buses, elevator, machine
In stock room, kitchens, sewers, toilets and streets;
From hands destitute and outstretched the sidewalk
At the corner of Rizal Avenue, Sta. Cruz Quiapo and Devisoria;
From the children of darkness who plunge into blaze
Only to be consumed without ever glimpsing hope.
The children of toil must now be heard
 THE CHILDREN OF TOIL MUST NOW BE HEARD
(An excerpt from Una't Huling Pasyon ni Rio Alma)
Virgilio Almario

From those who carry from their shoulders the Pentagon

And Wall Street, San Lorenzo and Forbes Park; from the hope withered
In the splendor of Escolta, Makati and glittering mansions,
By the tourist and peacocks of Ermita, Bayside, Alba and Hilton;
From the victims of armalite, stingray whip truncheon, goon
Of cacique, landlord, politico, userer and powerbroker;
From the desperados of skid row, channy ward, islet and outback;
From the victims of drunks private armies and extortionists,
The Black shirts, Barracudas, Saka-saka, Ilaga, Suzuki Boys.
THE CHILDREN OF TOIL MUST NOW BE HEARD
(An excerpt from Una't Huling Pasyon ni Rio Alma)
Virgilio Almario

The Children of Toil must now be heard.

It is time the raging voice of slave and weak be heard.

It is time to break the age-old shackles of mind and heart.
Lumberjack, butcher stevedore, peasant, worker,
And all the Children of Toil,
Together now must lash out and strike with raging fists.
An on the ashes of the greedy, the frauds and oppressors,
On the ashes on the vilest, sordid Past, build
The resplendent New World.
Thank You