The Death of Percy Lapid, a poem by April Mae M. Berza at Spillwords.com
Michal Matlon

The Death of Percy Lapid

The Death of Percy Lapid

How the Death of Percy Lapid Inspired a Filipino Movement of Justice Against Corruption and Impunity?

written by: April Mae M. Berza

 

Why am I imprisoned in my nightmares
of your recent death, the idiopathic pain
so excruciatingly hurting me?

Logic and reason robbed me of my sanity
all that was left was this questioning
why it had gone haywire.

As a journalist and radio broadcaster
who opened the wounds of corruption
and impunity, you left a legacy

of voicing out freedom and justice
for the small, weak, and poor.
Society lost its pillars of strength and hope.

How could our youth remember such heroism
fighting for the truth while the world never
forget your sacrifices for the Filipinos?

How could our youth embody such values
you live for while the world rejoices
the power you give back to the people?

How could our youth share your life
to inspire others while the world speaks
volumes about the life you enabled others to live?

Your death is not a fiasco for you
are a hero whose life enriches and empowers
the rest of the world with your light.

There is now a Filipino movement
for you that rekindled a spark in the revolution
so, we mobilize and rally against injustice.

You are an epic that I will read
every time the hands of time steal
a moment of history and remembrance.

Politics is fraught with corrupted lines
out of a poetic journey, and yours will not be
finishing with forgetting and forgetting.

You will always be Percy Lapid
I listen to whenever I turn on the radio
for something profound and empowering.

Will your early death bail me out
of this loneliness and solitude for we
are all victims of our mere existence?

April Mae M. Berza

April Mae M. Berza

April Mae M. Berza is the author of Confession ng isang Bob Ong Fan (Flipside, 2014) and Berso de Berza (Charging Ram, 2012.) Her poems and short stories appeared in numerous publications in the USA, France, Canada, Belgium, Romania, India, Japan, Great Britain, and the Philippines. She is a subtitler and translator in Hollywood (Netflix, Amazon, Disney+, HBO, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Hulu, Paramount, Apple TV, etc.). Her poems are translated into Crimean Tatar and Filipino. She used to work in the associate editor position of Toe Good. Her poem "E-Martial Law" was broadcast on IndoPacific Radio on KPFA 94.1FM/kpfa.org and her poem "A Page from History" was broadcast on WYCE Electric Poetry 88.1 FM in Michigan, USA. She is a member of the Poetic Genius Society. Her two haiku entries were featured in the 9th Yamadera Basho Memorial Museum English Haiku Contest Selected Haiku Submissions Collection, July 2017. She received an Honorable Mention in the 19th HIA Haiku Contest and the 7th Akita Russia-Japan Haiku Contest. She currently resides in Taguig, Philippines.
April Mae M. Berza

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