It was a sight almost unbelievable to behold
All the stories I had heard told
Said the creature would withhold
But here I was with a handful of gold
And all my fortunes multiplying tenfold
It looked at me with its one eye
staring, as if to clarify
I thought I should reply
A thank you or some goodbye
But I just stood with a tongue tie
The creature smiled and I smiled back
And hit the ground like it attacked
With its fist in one big smack
The earth split and opened in a crack
And down it walked into the black
Now I didn’t know what to do
I wasn’t sure if it was true
But the gold in my hand I did view
And all of a sudden I had a breakthrough
I looked at the ground and said ‘Thank you’
I took the gold back to my home
Dreaming of the places I would roam
London? Paris? New York or Rome?
But my bag felt lighter and I looked in and moaned
For all my gold had turned into Styrofoam!
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Written by Karl Gaverza
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Poem inspired by Dwende description in Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology. Ramos. 1971.
Dwende Illustration by Leandro Geniston from Aklat ng mga Anito
FB: That Guy With A Pen
Watercolor by Catherine Chiu
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