By Jose Aldous Rubi Arbon
Up the Cordilleras
Climb I did
And behold
The sanctuary of silence
Mountains, their imposing
Altitudes, to be conquered
Zipped around, tunneled
Summits kissing the sky
Wonder of wonders
Taking my breath away
Down in the womb of Banaue
Rise stairs of stalks of golden grains
Sagada and its clouds
Its valley that echoes
And death so solemn
To be hanged in coffins
Fields of strawberries
Benguet their home
And fogs they breathe
The anima of fruity picks
High up in the Cordilleras
My soul has redeemed a heart
To rise higher, and to raise oneself, is
The only way to be human.
Touching the clouds in Sagada
The hanging coffins, upholding the sanctity of the departed.
I came here and fell in love with the people and mountains.
About the writer: Jose Aldous Rubi Arbon is a law student at the University of the East in Manila. A natural-born leader and prolific writer, he works as political affairs assistant in the office of Congressman Guillermo A. Romarate, Jr., representative of the 2nd district of Surigao del Norte in the Philippines. He went to the Cordilleras for a vacation where, quite by pleasant surprise, he regained his soul.
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