Ex/changing languages
ON stage were three poets, each one holding a book the cover of which contains the color red and green in the form of a ribbon. From the center of the knot was a white flower emanating from three leaves. For that day, the red and green colors meant Hungary. Around the symbols were words also in blue-green—Hindi Pasisiil ang Pagsibol at iba pang tula mula Hungaria (Spring Cannot be Suppressed and other poems from Hungary). But there is in that book design the word “pasisiil” that has become a grave word we often attribute to noble acts. The said word appears on the first paragraph, third line of the Philippine National Anthem—“sa manlulupig/Di ka pasisiil.” It is a battlecry—to the conqueror we shall not be vanquished. And sung as a marcha, the anthem possesses vigor. As the title of the book announces, it is not to the conquering human force that we subject ourselves; rather, it is that season, that Spring, that refuses to be cowered.