GABU 

 BY CARLOS ANGELES

The battering restlessness of the sea
Insists a tidal fury upon the beach
At gabu and its pure consistency
Havocs the wasteland hard within its reach.

Brutal the daylong bashing of its heart
Against the seascape where, for miles around,
Farther than sight itself, the rockstones part
And drop into the elemental wound.

The waste of centuries is grey and dead
And neutral where the sea has beached its brine
Where the spilt salt of its heart lies spread
Among the dark habiliments of Time.The vital splendor misses. For here, here
At Gabu where the ageless tide recurs,
All things forfeited are most loved and dear.
It is the sea pursues a habit of shores.