Dato, Luis G. "Day on the Farm."

I've found you fruits of sweetest taste and found you Bunches of duhat growing by the hill, I've bound your arms and hair with vine and bound you With rare wildflowers but you are crying still. I've brought you all the forest ferns and brought you Wrapped in green leaves cicadas singing sweet, I've caught you in my arms an hour and taught you Love's secret where the mountain spirits meet. Your smiles have died and there is no replying To all endearment and my gifts are vain; Come with me, love, you are too old for crying, The church bells ring and I hear drops of rain. - Luis G. Dato

Luis G. Dato

Poet, educator, journalist, and politician Luis G. Dato, one of the first Filipino authors to write and publish in English, was born in Baao, Camarines Sur, Philippines, on July 4, 1906. He was the third of five children born to Eugenio Dato y Espalana and Barbara Guevara y Imperial. His brother, Rodolfo, was also an academic, having served as dean of the University of Nueva Caceres in Naga City, Bicol Region, Philippines, in addition to editing the anthology Filipino Poetry, initially published in 1924.