Ode to Mt. Apo
Posted on Wednesday 6 April 2016
Written during my first climb and included
in my first book, “Beyond the Horizon”….
ODE TO MT. APO
By Apolinario Villalobos
You could have just been a dream…
Yet, here I am, biding my time
from
where I’ll start my trek
over
hills, mountains
thick
forests, hot springs and lakes.
Please consider me one of your people…
those
who dwell at your foot –
Bagobos,
Manobos, and others
whose
smile, warm and sweet
vanishes
the fear and fatigue
of
intruders like me and the rest.
Uncertain of what to find….
I
don’t mind at all
for
I know, I’m among a good people.
I don’t mind the trek from Makalangit -
past
the Fourteen Stations
to
Mt. Zion
or
the nerve-rending leaps
from
boulder to boulder
sixteen
times across
the
gurgling Marble River
that
girdles your waist.
Ah, beloved Apo…
your
sonorous Twin and Malou Shih Falls
delightfully
blend
with
the songs of birds
and
chirps of cicadas
music
that no man can feign.
Lake Venado, unruffled…
serenely
mirrors your soul
and
the seemingly drop of tear, Lake Jordan
furtively
glistens under the searing sun.
Even for a moment while up here…
on
the summit
I
become part of you
as
my wary soul is soothed
by
your enchanting Lake Agko.
But there’s more to these…
Things that I need to understand -
those
behind the curtains of moss
and
orchids that hang
from
the limbs of century trees;
those
beneath your soft carpet
of
lichens and grass
that
swallow our steps
as
if to muffle whatever
sound
they might make.
You are the ultimate answer desired
by
those who long
for
adventure and mystery;
and, it may take a
long time
for
you to be transformed
from
a dream into reality…
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