APOLOGY -ERRATUM

I wish to apologize to my readers for the error I made in my early postings. The GeneralMacArthur Leyte landing was on October 20, 1944 and not on October 20, 2004. It is only now that I noticed the mistake.

December 2008

Christmas Light, Christmas Dark
Dr. Edith Tiempo
National Artist for Literature

One Christmas night a wise man and a fool
Stood by a noisy street ablaze with blinking lights.
Joyous people came and went,
Rejoicing in the happy event.
“Today,” the wise man said, “today the Christ is born.
What better gift for the manger bed
Than the ever-blazing lights
Of wisdom in my head?
Kings and princes who must wisely rule,
They read my words and truly learn,
And by my precepts they are led.
So, my wisdom I lay at the manger bed.”

The fool spoke up, “All this is good,
The lights in the street and the lights in your head,
It is good to rejoice and to loudly praise.
But let me take you to another place,
Where the darkened night
Is lighted only by stars overhead,
No noisy crowds, just the birds chirping in the wood;

The fish splash in the river; the fireless light
The dusky sky; the monkeys chatter softly,

The insects titter quietly,
The glow-worm in the grass
Wiggles to hear our footsteps pass.”

The wise man then said, “O God, forgive me,
For this fool is wiser far than I.

His words speak of the lowly birth
Of one born with the beasts and creatures of earth,
This birth is a time, yes, for festivity,
But even more, a time for humility,
A time for laying by
The feverish praise and loud celebration,
A time for quiet introspection.
A time to grasp in the darkness of our being
The wonder of this birth and the balm of its meaning.”

Time for darkness, time of the spark:
Christmas light, Christmas dark.

_By Dr Edith Tiempo,Silliman University