TAAS KAMAONG PAGPUPUGAY KASAMANG NICK ATIENZA...

Red Angel(for Nic and friends) Edel Garcellano They must have hoped through the months for a sign from the sky: in the arabesque of leaves under their feet, in the blast of wind over their heads... But the gods were merciless! Their prayers were like stones Dropping into the abyss --- and they couldn't eveh hear the sound of their empty falling! They would be no miracle? and their feeble sighs would resonate from the secret chambers of their hearts: Why do revolutionaries die? Still, the gods would madly laugh, as if all should never dare question the law of the universe... The morning after, the slow rain pattered on ten rooftops. The weather had been uncertain the past few weeks. But one thing they were damned sure of --- nature was taking its course. They had finally read the writing on the wall of the universe. So they dutifully gathered at his bedside to let the world know that Ka Monico Atienza, red angel, of their subliminal joys and fears, lived a just, heroic life and they would now, orphans of his presence, take on the grim task that he unwillingly abandoned for that light beyond his body's shell, and they, who would follow his incandescent destiny, would salute him who was truly the miracle itself for resisting, for persisting to live humanly and meaningfully in this age of tyrants and luminous barbarians.