[poem] Bolinao Vignettes 2: Lolo Agoy, Andoy Castellano, 11 May 2006

Bolinao Vignettes 2: Lolo Agoy
Andoy Castellano, 11 May 2006

I never saw Lolo Agoy get mad,
he had this lop-sided grin
which becomes a smile and a laugh
A kindly man, named after the town's patron saint
elementary school janitor he was
also, a carpenter by trade
he taught himself radio electronics
and fixed transistor radios
and quartz clocks

There's not too much to tell
about my paternal grandfather
save for one story

Lolo Agoy once walked from Bolinao
the westernmost tip of Pangasinan
to fetch his son who was with his sister in Pasay
The lad needed fetching
as there was a little problem
called a war going on at that time
Because of a fuel shortage
there were no vehicles about
and he walked
and he came back to Bolinao with his son, he did

He was a school janitor
He also helped at Church, assisted the Priest at Mass
as long as he lived
Seeing Lolo Agoy,
shrunken, wrinkled and burned by the sun
You'd never think he could have walked to Pasay
and back to Bolinao to fetch his son
with a little problem called a war going on

--
--andoy
11 May 2006