Si Lola Isyang at ang Matandang Puno ng Kaimito

by Chary Lou Navarro-Defante

(For UST students who need this in their Lit 102 Class)

Isang gabi
Si Lola Isyang dumungaw sa bintana
Natanaw niya ang mga daliri ng hangin
Isa-isa, dahan-dahang pinipitas
Ang mga dahon ng matandang puno ng kaimito.

At ang mga mata ni Lola ay kinurot
Ng mga daliri ring iyon
Isinara ni Lola ang bintana
At dahan-dahang nahiga.

Doon naramdaman ni Lola Isyang
Ang hapdi na dala ng kurot
Ang talukap ng kanyang mga mata’y
Unti-unting nag-abot
Kasabay ng pagkaubos ng mga dahon
Ng matandang puno ng kaimito.

The author wrote the poem in 1994 when she was a 4th year college student. It was just an output for a poetry writing seminar with Palance Awardee Dr. Leoncio P. Deriada who is also a poetry editor of Homelife magazine. The piece was first published in the book Patubas: An Anthology of West Visayan Poetry: 1986-1994 by the National Committee on the Literary Arts (NCLA) of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and then in Philippine Literatures: texts, themes, approaches by UST Publishing House in 2008.


The poem was inspired by O. Henry's short story The Last Leaf. She used the puno ng kaimito or star apple tree because it was one of her favorite "childhood fruits".