The Agrarian Tenant Poem by RIC BASTASA

eddie is the guy
he used to be a lover of women in the town
when his father Toldo died
he inherits

tenancy, and so he married early
got six kids, wife ligated, and lived a
simple life beside a
ricefield, on the empty

fields he can see the black crows
and the sparrows
and the scarecrows, for year and years
he

tilled the land left by my forefathers
as we finish our courses
this time i come back to see him
how

old has he become, emaciated, deep brown skin
dry long hair, cracking lips,
gnarled fingers,

i though he too would not recognize me
we had a talk about the farm and the rice
produce, the cost of fertilizers and pesticides
and the chinese cartel
and the massive importation from vietnam
killing all of their dreams

i have not done my duty, but here he is
surviving on few grains left
on salted fish

all his children gone
domesticated in other homes of the rich
few in Hongkong
one in Dubai the other one opens her parlor
in Vigan

at the end, there is only the two of them
his ligated wife and himself
unbending.