Across the convent of Santa Clara in Katipunan lies a verdant realm undisturbed since time unremembered. Cut across by a concrete highway, which obstruct the sanctum of the women in habit, the stalemate between holiness and progress settle in uneasy peace. The nuns, whose day to day affair include supplicating and accepting generous offer of eggs as means of bribe to the almighty remain content in their quiet contemplation. The paradise past however has it fate sealed in oblivion. In this patch of greens are mighty trees, whose man-size trunk and industrial-strength branches, which have stood in quiet passing for ages are now being eyed for uprooting. At ground level, where the earth gives life to varied shrubs and grasses would be soon unearthed to lay the foundations of the accursed monoliths that would serve as dwellings for the blinded. Lest we should forget, the organic citadel breathes sentience to all crawling and flapping creatures who call this place its home. For years, the ecosystem held its ground against human encroachment. It bore witness to a generation whose one desire is to stake its claim to all what it sees.
The relentless greed must end all silence.
I used to measure progress of one's city by way of counting the number of skyscrapers rising from the ground. It was how we were thought this way until such time the city itself, dense and sprawling was suddenly deluged by mud and water from the land it ravaged. Lives were lost, homes destroyed. And when the mud was cleared away and the towns rebuilt, the frenzy to put our dwellings higher until it brushes the skirt of heavens went into full swing. Monoliths were erected, open spaces, which could have been pockets of greens within a decaying city taken, so that those from the urbanside will sleep soundly at night, knowing the torrent of earth and water will never return again.
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| Flood Free Indeed |
Sometimes it gets me into thinking: When the fault-lines finally move and the ground excessively trembles, how will these arrogant towers fare before they all come crashing back to the ground?