CHORAL READING

                               THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER SPEAKS
                                    BY TIMOTHY MULVEY

                        I am the Unknown Soldier. I was conceived and born under the blue skies. I grew. I loved life, knowing how good it could be. But I had a commission.

                        I was compelled to leave a plow in the province, to forget a rice field in the farm, to forsake a vineyard in the barrio. I went off to war.

                        But citizens, somewhere in the annals of casualty, I fell. The manner, the details of my death are not important. This only you should remember: when the science of war speaks from the infallible mouth of a bomb or gun, human fallible flesh shrinks and dies and in a dirty suit.

                       So I felt.
                       So I died.

                       But I have a new vantage point, citizens. My name now is not attached to local conscription. I am not Jew and Gentile; Filipino or Russian, French or Japanese; English German, or American. I am simply a casualty of war.

                      I will now say the harsh word, louder than the sound of all your revelry. My flesh is moldering in the earth. Will you remember that? My young flesh is moldering in the earth.Yet I do not say it with misgiving. I say it only for this new reason: life might have been kinder to me. I might have been spared a few years longer to know the joy of loving and of being loved. I might have been taken a child upon my knee and laughed (does it make much difference now) in the cool of the evening, or in the shadows of the night. But I was a casualty of war.

                   If I have done well, you may consign me to the small benedictions of village green and civic memorials. I will not reset it. If I have done wrong, if I have been the barbarian enemy who ran from a cave with the hot flame of death wrapped about my body, be kind, if not to my memory, at least to my orphaned children: for I was not a beast, but a man, blood-brother to man who flung the flame.

                  I am the Unknown Soldier. And since I am now of kindred spirits with all those who have spent their blood for cause, right or wrong, I know this: peace is not an armistice peace is not an end of hostilities; peace does mean the bending of peoples to yoke of the victor. Rather, peace means the return of all humanity to its common decency, to its self-respect.

                 My work is finished. Pray, now, that my soul will rest fell with HIM who once said: "Greater love than this no man hath, that man lay down his friends" and in the meantime, O you who still breathe under the sun, raise up the new family.

                Let the bond between you be stated so simply, that even a child might understand. Let the bond between you be love since love, citizens is not only a good neighbor policy it is the Law of the4 Prophets, If love is bond, love for all mankind, for all the tribes of the earth, there will be no need for violence. If love is not the bond, you shall reap the terrible fruit of your own planting. I am the Unknown Soldier of the most terrible conflict the earth has ever seen. I shall have died in vain if men cannot now, sit down as one family at a common table under the Fatherhood of God.

Oration

                              THE GREATEST WORK OF GOD'S HANDS
                                  John Henry Cardinal Newman

                        We have familiar experience of the order, the constancy, the perpetual renovation of the material
world which surrounds us. Frail and transitory as is elements, never-ceasing as are its changes, still it abides. It is bound togeteher by a law of permanence , it is set up in unity, and, though it is ever dying, it is ever coming to life again. Dissolution does give birth to fresh modes of organization, and one death is the parent of a thousand lives. Each hour, as it comes, is but a testimony how fleeting, yet how secure, how certain, is the great whole. It is like an image on the waters, which is ever the same, though the waters ever flow. Change upon change -yet one change cries out to another, like the alternate Seraphim, in praise and in glory to their Maker. The sun sinks to rise again; the day is swallowed up in the gloom of the night, to be born out of it, as fresh as if it had never been quenched. Spring passes into summer and through summer and autumn into winter, only the more surely, by its own ultimate return to triumph over tha grave, towards which it resolutely hastened from its first hour. We mourn over the blossoms of May, because they are to wither, but we know, withal, that May is one day to have its revenge upon November, by the revolution of that solemn circle which never stops-which teaches us in our height of hope, ever to be sober, and in our depth of desolation, never to despair. That which ought to come to naught, endures. That which promises a future, disaapointment and is no more. The same sun shines in heaven from first to last, and the blue firmament, the everlasting mountains, reflect his rays, but where is there upon earth the champion, the hero, the law-giver, the body politic, the sovereign race, which was great three hundred years ago, and is great now? Man rises to fall; he tends to dissolution from the moment he begins to be; he lives on indeed, in his children, he lives on in his name, he lives not on in his person. He is, as regards the manifestations of his nature here below, as a bubble that breaks, and as water poured upon the earth. He was young, he is old, he is never young again. This is the lament over him, poured forth in verse and prose, by Christians and by heathens. The greatest work of God's hands under the sun, he, in all the manifestations of his complex being, is born only to die.

North-West Is where the Sun Rises

                                  The first rays of the sun lightly gleamed on my cheeks. When I opened my eyes, I saw the orange sphere in its most beautiful glory as it ascends above the clouds. I looked outside the window and saw the world below as it received  the magnificent  warmth of the sun. I breathed deeply and smiled. Feeling the grumble of my stomache. I pressed on the orange button above me. A young lady came and smiled at me."Can I get you anything, Sir."

"Umm, When are you going to start serving breakfast?" "They're preparing them at this very moment, Sir. We can get yours right away if you want me to."

"Yes, please"
 
"I'll be right back with your breakfast, Sir."

As the stewardess turned away from me, I called her back, "Umm, Miss?"  "Yes, Sir"

I looked outside and said, It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" She smiled and said, " It certainly yes Sir. I personally love sunrises, that's partly the reason why I became a flight attendant." Then she walked away. I looked at my watch. I still had four hours to go before landing. Four hours before my feet would touch local ground. Four hours before inevitable change in my life would occur. Four hours to go...before I see her.

Her, I haven't seen her in ten years. Ten , long, agonizing years of studying and hard work, of sweat, blood and tears, of missing  her eyes, her smile, her face, lips, her warmth, her embrace.I can't wait to personally tell her how much I love her despite the distance, the pain, the doubts, the temptations, and the sleepless nights, I have finally earned enough money to go and get her and build a family with her. Once I get there, I'm going to ask for her hand in marriage.

I pulled out a small black box from my pocket and opened it. In it was the ring that I'd slip in her finger. It was the ring that symbolizes the never-ending love, trust, fidelity and promise to her, that I will be hers forever...if she only chose to accept.

Before I knew it, It was time for me to go down from the plane. All I thought about was her that I didn't know how I got out of the airport with all my bags, I was there, looking for a taxi. When amidst the crowd, a beautiful lady with long, straight hair and a smile I've always known was looking at me from a far. I walked towards her, bringing my two huge bags with me.

"Hello, Bill," she said . Her voice was music to my ears. I knew I had to do it right then and there. I slowly knelt on one knee and showed her the ring.

"Marry me , Zhengzhou."

                I heard everyone around us applaud loudly. I then stood up and Zhengzhou embraced me. It was the embrace that I 'm waiting for ten years. It was the warmth that I, longed and wanted and missed and didn't feel for a long time... not fascinated, not dreamed but its real, really its real.

"Yes, Bill, I will marry you."

We were both in tears when I slipped the ring on her finger. Then she held my hand and took the smaller bag.

"C'mon,Let's go home."

"You need to see her now , taxi is waiting." I was unconscious, I close my eyes and open again... and tears in my eyes. Why? what happened? Tell me what happened to her! God knows I was with her, always with her, talking to her despite the distance... but why? " Zarah tapped my shoulder and took my hand. "C'mon it's time to go, We need to see her for the last time."

I was there on that old dilapidated house I saw a white coffin... "No...no please no.. not this time after all those years, I can't bear this! C'mon, Zhengzhou wake up! get out from that coffin.. I need you! I am here for you! Why leave me?All was turned into nothing, my efforts, our promises, what will happened to me now? ...Hours, minutes, seconds had past I was still unconcious looking at her face, and up there praying...asking him why?...why?... please give her back to me, not now, not this time.

"Sir, Sir, wake up! were here now in Manila Airport, you're dreaming Sir." "Umm, Oh thank God its only a dream.. what a bad dream!

"Daddy, Daddy", my son and my wife waving her hand, her smile.. ohh ,  "Zhengzhou my wife.Thank you Allah!it's only a dream.. only a bad dream."

I held my son in my arms and embraces my wife.

C'mon let's go home.

Kites and Planes

              It was a great day to stroll in the park and watch how people spend their idle time. Families arrived with picnic baskets. Kids played Frisbee with their dogs. Couples walked hand-in-hand, sat under the tree and kissed like there was no one there. Other kids  were on top of a hill, flying their kites of different shapes, colors and sizes. They soared high up in the sky like exotic birds gliding beneath the afternoon skies. I was fortunate enough to have my own tree, free of kissing couples, I sat on one of the branches that almost touched the ground,  while Bill laid a small towel on one of the roots and rested his head on it.


               "I wonder if kites get tangled with airplane wings".


                Bill looked at me with those what-the-heck-are-you-thinking eyes. "Whatever,"he said.
"No really ," I said, "Maybe if I held on tight to the kite and it got tangled on one of the plane's wings, I could go places."


"Jasmine," he said as he sat up straight, "trust me, I don't want that to happen."


I didn't bother to ask him why , because I knew he's going to give me a comeback. And I wasn't in the mood to hurt anybody at that time, so I let him be, Besides, I was busy dreaming...


"Maybe when I get used at hanging on to the plane's wings, I'll also get used to flying. Maybe I wouldn't need that kite anymore. I'm going to learn to fly, Fly far away from here." Would that be happened? A thousand words and questions maybe not anymore.


I heard Bill whisper something like, "No way," I just rolled my eyes. He should get used to me thinking out loud,


"Or maybe you could help me,"


"What? Me?" he said, "How?"


"I'm gonna make a kite, and I'll be the stick that would hold it together. Then you're gonna pull me when the wind is strong. Then you could snip the rope so I could fly away."


I sat beside him and said, "Wouldn't that be nice, Bill? I've always wanted to fly." Escape from the cage i was in ....but how?


"I don't want you to do that." he said. I was surprised with what he said. He has always supported me on everything that I dreamed of. This was the first time he said no to me.


"Bill, you said before that whatever I do-"


"Screw what I said before, I just don't want you to leave me, Ever.Is that clear? Call me possessive , but I don't want you to leave me here, alone. I don't wanna be alone anymore, that's all."


His cheeks turned red, "But, Jasmine, if you really want to fly away on a kite, then I guess I'll just miss you."


I squeezed his hand, He looked at me, I smiled, pulled him close, and made him lie down on my lap. "I'm not gonna leave you, never."