Long ago, we came to this place where a child can walk out into the sea without harm. Both the sun and the clouds that bring rain are born daily just beyond this very island, in the place where the sky first touches the endless waters. We constructed fine homes from bamboo and the leaves of palm, our Bahay Kubo, and then we stitched good seeds into the soil. We affixed two outriggers to our boats so we might venture to and from the bigger waters, where the schooling fish have invented colors unto themselves.
Here is where you shall find us yet today, shaded
by the broad leaves at Bayawan. Our feet yet remain wet from the ocean’s water.
And while in one hand we hold the hands of our children, in the other, we offer
the gift of food to our family and neighbors.
—Mitchell Hegman
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