My Warrior Mothers

My mother's eyes
Tell the tales of my heritage
Dumagat, Sea People.
Her lips whisper
The songs of my foremothers
Visayan, Island tongues.
Her nose, proud and strong
Honors our creation story
Deities molding earth and man
Flat noses a symbol of our past.
She gazes up to the heavens
And we see with her
Rice, combs and beads
Hanging like stars in the night sky.
Tattooed shadows, a portrait
Of our matrilineage
Brave warrior grandmothers
Their legacies alive in her.
My mother, my Inahan,
Great warrior of my tribe
Atong Manggugubat
Our Warrior Mothers, proud and free.