I miss the days when I was young,
Eager to play when house chores were done,
Ready for the games with my playmates,
Poor like me and even some rich kids.
We run on the hills with wooden guns,
Firing at each other with the mouth sound.
Sometimes we just settle in the yard,
Loitering, with our trumpo spinning around.
The summertime was what we enjoyed most,
For it’s the time that’s free from hassles,
No assignments to worry for the next day,
And play anytime when you were carefree.
After siesta we play the patintero, or
Noisily have fun with the tumbang preso.
The boys may opt to play the tsato,
While the girls are left to play the piko.
Sometimes we frolic in the dry rice field,
Trampling on the dry rice stalks it yields.
We run around and play the habulan, and
At night we enjoyed playing taguan.
On fiestas, we join the palo sebo,
And the pabitin that we enjoyed too.
We test our finger strength in sumping, or
Have our wooden swords for fencing.
Most girls like to play bahay-bahayan,
But more eager to join the santacruzan.
There’s the girlish game of langit lupa,
But the boys won’t fall behind with their sipa.
Ah… a lot we get from our traditional games,
Not only exercise but there are lessons learned,
To be considerate and learn to persist,
And politely accept victory and defeat.
We learn to take turns for it’s part of the game,
And endure our frustration about waiting.
We learn to recognize the hurting reality,
That not everything will always go our way.
Today, your games are played in a different way,
Quite complex and far from our games yesterday,
Games that were brought by the new technology,
But never will I trade the games I used to play.
Adapted from an article in Philippine Panorama (Magazine)
Adapted from an article in Philippine Panorama (Magazine)
