'THE SKELETON YOUR PAINS TURN INTO A MONSTER'
Ayon kay guro- kritikong Soledad S. Reyes, isang malinaw na halimbawa ng puwersa sa poetry ni LAMBERTO E. ANTONIO ang "Gabi ng Isang Piyon".
Sa tulang ito ni LEA, "itinapat ng persona ang kalagayan ng piyon sa pangkalahatang buhay ng karaniwang trabahador--ang mahabang oras ng pagbubuwis ng dugo, ang mga kasangkapan sa paggawa, ang kawalan ng pag-asa, ang sakit at dusa sa katawan at kaluluwa, ang kawalan ng katarungan".
Mula sa aklat ng tulang "HAGKIS NG TALAHIB" (LASH OF WILD GRASS) ni Antonio ang nasabing piyesa, na isinalin sa English ng National Artist na si Bienvenido Lumbera, at ilang ulit nakasama sa mga antolohiya.
Ipinamagat ni Lumbera ang "Night of A Construction Worker" sa selection na ganito ang teksto:
Unable to sleep.
Yes, hands have let go of shovel,
Hammer, pipe, wire and other tools,
But dismissal at five had failed to signal
Gravel, cement and filling earth
To let go of your breath.
When the lightbulb flickers out,
There's only the dark to ask to nurse the flaring up
And the throbbing of the littlest muscle, blister, bruise and cut
On arm and finger, and the stab at the heart and brain,
As you lie on cast-off plywood board, wood shaving
Or empty cement bags in the solitary corner
Of the building a sketch as yet on drafting paper.
Unable to sleep.
One whose fatigue has seeped to the very bones
Needs a visit from drowsiness, but before your gaze
Cement mixer keeps churning without tiring it seems--
More blood and sweat to mix with sand and cement,
Flesh you will slap
Onto ribs of iron: the skeleton your pains
Turn second by second into a monster,
In return for wage that barely staves off hunger,
For dreaming up more construction jobs to come,
For prayers made musty by sweat and magic spell.
Moments like these when neon lights shred the dark,
When labor contractor and greedy right-hand man have gone home,
Dark shapes crouch and stick accusing fingers in the mind:
Sunken cheeks of the sickly newborn
Or wife whose eyes blur
At the unappealing meal of congee and grains of salt...
And, too, cold night spread by the late hour
A prescribed balm on bare torso
That resists convincing it's turning into skin and bones.
How can you fall asleep
When each time you stretch out on your back it seems the stars
Are slowly swallowed up by the towering roof above?
Only the dark in the corner to ply with queries:
Why gravel, filling earth and sand
Refuse to let go, weighing on your breath--
Each time the thought looms in your mind you're part
Of the scaffolding you yourself one of these days, will take apart.
