UPCAT

I was told this morning that over 62,000 senior students all over the country applied this year for a chance to hurdle the ever-dreaded-yet-rewarding University of the Philippines College Admission Test. My fingers are crossed, but my first bloetry (blog poetry) waits not Apollo's leave.

Utter the five sacred letters and
Pierce many a mortal heart and soul,
Crushed dreams of golden nights
And the lifeless eyes that follow
The hieroglyphs of daylight.

Upon first sight of the answer sheets
Plagued with boils of bamboo green,
Curses muttered under fearful breaths
And many a sigh cloak living corpses,
Their tomorrows uncertain as ever.

Under the scorching roofs, doves of
Peace lose their olive branches;
Cramped within the stony walls,
Ardent hopes wither as the lovely
Trees of autumn shed their leaves.

Unicorns never before did matter, yet
Pieces and fragments of broken wisdom
Cast shadows throughout the journey:
Another circle blackened, as another is
Thrown to the fiery wasteland of wrongs.

Utopians might say this all matters not,
Pallid-faced and stone-hearted ones also,
Clowns of extravagant festivals too, but
All words matter not, except one only:
The joyful silent cry of an "Accepted."

Unto the dying afternoon they trudged,
Places then never again were the same,
Clueless faces emerge to the setting sun
And tiny wisps of the ever-smoky future
Tell nothing but vague memories.