DECLAMATION PIECES
I'm Still A Kid
I'm still a kid. A kid with plans. A kid who adores her parents. I am nothing like those kids who put on
makeup and dress up like... like ADULTS!
Who do they think they are? They are still children. They should be lucky to have toys. They should like
comic books and Barbie dolls, NOT praise... BEER! DRUGS! DATING! YOU only live ONCE! You
shouldn't smoke. You shouldn't run away from school.
Please! STUDY! GRADUATE! Then that's when you get married and have kids. That's when you decide
what you will do for yourself.
Do not blame your parents when you go to jail. Don't tell them you never cared --- because THEY DID!
They gave you a home, A LIFE! They lectured you because they cared.
BUT YOU! You wouldn't listen. Instead, you worship maleficent things! Dangerous activities! You come
home late at night, stop going to school. You don't listen. You don't care.
Well, that's your problem! I know my parents are proud of me. ME! Because I am a straight-A student
with a dream to become what I want to be. I could be a lawyer, a doctor, a fashion designer or even a
dancer.
Since I listened to my parents, I never had trouble with school. My friends could hate me. So what? They
want to go out clubbing.
NOT ME!
I am too young for that. And you know what? I am proud of saying I'm still a kid because my family is so
proud of me. Of what I am. How they trust me.
After all, I'm still a kid. A kid with a future.
Am I to be Blamed?
They’re chasing me, they’re chasing, no they must not catch me, I have enough money now, yes
enough for my starving mother and brothers.
Please let me go, let me go home before you imprisoned me. Very well, officers? take me to your
headquarters. Good morning captain! no captain, you are mistaken, I was once a good girl, just
like the rest of you here. Just like any of your daughters. But time was, when I was reared in
slums. But we lived honestly, we lived honestly in life. My, father, mother, brothers, sisters and
I. But then, poverty enters the portals of our home. My father became jobless, my mother got ill.
The small savings that my mother had kept for our expenses were spent. All for our daily needs
and her needed medicine.
One night, my father went out, telling us that he would come back in a few minutes with plenty
of foods and money, but that was the last time I saw him. He went with another woman. If only I
could lay my hands on his neck I would wring it without pain until he breaths no more. If you
were in my place, you’ll do it, won’t you Captain? What? you won’t still believe in me?. Come
and I’ll show you a dilapidated shanty by a railroad.
Mother, mother I’m home, mother? mother?!. There Captain, see my dead mother. Captain?
there are tears in your eyes? now pack this stolen money and return it to the owner. What good
would this do to my mother now? she’s already gone! Do you hear me? she’s already gone. Am I
to be blamed for the things I have done?
Vengeance Is Not Ours, It’s God’s
Alms, alms, alms. Spare me a piece of bread. Spare me your mercy. I am a child so young, so
thin, and so ragged. Why are you staring at me? With my eyes I cannot see but I know that you
are all staring at me. Why are you whispering to one another? Why? Do you know my mother?
Do you know my father? Did you know me five years ago?
Yes, five years of bitterness have passed. I can still remember the vast happiness mother and I
shared with each other. We were very happy indeed.
Suddenly, five loud knocks were heard on the door and a deep silence ensued. Did the cruel
Nippon’s discover our peaceful home? Mother ran to Father’s side pleading. “Please, Luis, hide
in the cellar, there in the cellar where they cannot find you,” I pulled my father’s arm but he did
not move. It seemed as though his feet were glued to the floor.
The door went “bang” and before us five ugly beasts came barging in. “Are you Captain Luis
Santos?” roared the ugliest of them all. “Yes,” said my father. “You are under arrest,” said one of
the beasts. They pulled father roughly away from us. Father was not given a chance to bid us
goodbye.
We followed them mile after mile. We were hungry and thirsty. We saw group of Japanese
eating. Oh, how our mouths watered seeing the delicious fruits they were eating,
Then suddenly, we heard a voice call, “Consuelo. . . . Oscar. . . . Consuelo. . . . Oscar. . . .
Consuelo. . . . Oscar. . . .” we ran towards the direction of the voice, but it was too late. We saw
father hanging on a tree. . . . dead. Oh, it was terrible. He had been badly beaten before he
died. . . . and I cried vengeance, vengeance, vengeance! Everything went black. The next thing I
knew I was nursing my poor invalid mother.
One day, we heard the church bell ringing “ding-dong, ding-dong!” It was a sign for us to find a
shelter in our hide-out, but I could not leave my invalid mother, I tried to show her the way to the
hide-out.
Suddenly, bombs started falling; airplanes were roaring overhead, canyons were firing from
everywhere. “Boom, boom, boom, boom!” Mother was hit. Her legs were shattered into pieces. I
took her gently in my arms and cried, “I’ll have vengeance, vengeance!” “No, Oscar. Vengeance,
it’s God’s,” said mother.
But I cried out vengeance. I was like a pent-up volcano. “Vengeance is mine not the Lord’s”.
“No, Oscar. Vengeance is not ours, it’s God’s” these were the words from my mother before she
died.
Mother was dead and I was blind. Vengeance is not ours? To forgive is divine but vengeance is
sweeter. That was five years ago, five years. . . .
Alms, alms, alms. Spare me a piece of bread. Spare me your mercy. I am a child so young, so
thin, and so ragged. Vengeance is not ours, it’s God’s. . . . It’s. . . . God’s. . It’s…
