Editor’s Note: To honor Cibola’s veterans, Los Alamitos instructor Richie Ann Balgos had her students write poetry about the Bataan Death March, which is remembered annually on April 9. The following selection of essays was selected by Los Alamitos staff and written by local middle school students.
To Honor, To Never Forget by Kai Vallo
Here I stand, and here I walk, while the soldiers shout and talk. Their hands strike, their voices sneer, as men collapse - I swallow fear.
Bodies fall, but no one cares, pain and loss hang in the air. Eighty years, yet echoes stay, though time has worn the past away.
But I will write, I will recall, to honor those who gave their all. This poem is for the brave who fought, for those who lived, for those who lost.
Fading Footsteps by Lillien Ortega Walking for hours, when will it end? Will I survive or fade with the wind?
I can't stop - one glance, one shot.
Bang. Bang. That’s all we hear. One by one, we drop. Only a few live to tell.
Yet here I stand, pushing through, no matter the pain, no matter the hunger. We march, bound by cruel commands, No rest, no choice.
No mercy.
The air is heavy with groans and cries, the last breaths of those who fall behind.
I can never forget. I’ve been there. A scar that never heals, Fading footsteps, I hear, Shadows that follow me still.
The Price of Silence by Jasmine Sarracino The death march answers their prayers, taking the last words, making anew of their white gowns. Spray-paint them the color of my thoughts, stopping dead in their tracks. And their bodies drift like cursed wings, streaming tears down their faces.
As eyes bounce off the lifeless body, my lifeless body.
How many jigsaw hearts physically fell apart?
The preacher-man tears his script one left more before he can run home now.
Here I stand in the shadows of them, the one, the few, those who had nothing else to do. How many people will remember my face once the blue in my eyes turns gray?
Please do not dance on my grave. Please, let me rest and fade.
March without Mercy by Evee Saul They trudged through heat and dust for miles, The guards were toying with them for fun. Some were punished for surviving the trials, While others fell beneath the sun.
They were forced to march, no rest, no water, Each step, heavier than the last.
Soft murmurs rose, then faded away, As weary souls took their final gasp. Sufferings carved in dust and pain.
Though broken, beaten, nearly forgotten, Their sacrifice will be retold, Remember them, remember all.
Ruthlessness
by Devin Zamora Humans screaming, fire raging, a dead king stirs. The earth spins, the sun rises, a new world sleeps.
The waves command our world. All I have to say is five words: Ruthlessness is mercy upon yourself.