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Wilfredo Gacosta Oktubre 1974
The Story of a Call
in the dark jungle
in Mt. Katuaga,
we talk of the bright morning
of revolt all over the land.
on one side of the vast
kugon field on the Bangtuhan plateau,
overlooking the lowlands and the town,
we reckon the number, the difficulty
of tasks waiting to be done.
all of a sudden, "pass it on, comrades!"
forcing their way in
are four columns
of the dictator's mercenary emissaries.
couched in cushioned chairs,
the executioners Frivaldo and de Guzman
roar in laughter,
"ha! ha! ha! you'll be done by December,
you violent subversives!"
quietly the pointed bamboos
lie in wait
beneath the thickets and footpaths.
quietly the people's militia
watches out.
what do we do next?
the armalites and machineguns
of the crazed enemy
begin to echo;
the helicopter proudly swirls
in the sky.
ready and calm
are the ones among us who guard the passes
south and north, east
and west.
in the hut where we meet,
the smoke from the local tobacco smells bad,
flat and bitter is the strong
black coffee...
but nothing is more flat
than living in an enslaved country,
nothing more bitter than the reactionaries'
savagery.
knit your brows! find a way!
in the end, the meeting gives birth
to a call:
"defend the organs
of Red power!
crush the encircle-
and-destroy campaigns of the enemy!"
(E.P.)
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