The door is closed, the curtains drawn inside
A room, a bright question mark of light …
Outside your door an empty limousine
Wait in the emptiness of the night.
Angela Manalang-Gloria is a Filipino poet who wrote poems in English before the war. Her works received less attention during those times, which explains why her participation was ignored in the 1940 Commonwealth Literary Competitions. Her collection of lyrical pieces exploring a woman’s private passions received fewer favors then, but has suffered a revaluation in recent years.
The poem “Dear” consists of only four verses and was criticized before for “saying nothing more than inside there was light; outside there was a limousine. The poem describes a certain scene. We could conclude that it is one of the nights when the lover, or the “darling”, as the title suggests, spends time with her lover, who is probably a wealthy married man.The subject of having an affair with a married man, or a married person for that matter, was a taboo subject before. Over the years, and the way people think changes, this topic has been spoken with more open and non-discriminatory minds.
Darling, as mentioned, it means “lover” and a lover is a woman who is having an affair with a married man. Of course, the term refers to the female gender. Some would even point out that if a woman is having an affair, she is branded a lover, but when a man commits the same sin, there is no known equivalent for the term.
This topic could arouse the interest of women, because it is the brand of their gender that this poem talks about. I am also inclined to believe that when news of things like being in a relationship outside of marriage comes out, it will be talked about, regardless of whether the people speaking are male or female. In the Philippine context, it cannot be denied that the majority of these people who would speak on this topic would be mostly women.
There is no defined labeling for the voice of the person describing the scene. It just describes, but somehow we could say that the voice suggests what the title says, suggests that this is one of the nights in the life of a beloved. We definitely cannot say that the work is sympathetic to the female gender, because as said, the voice of the person describing the scene is simply describing and giving clues. The work may be understanding, but at the same time, some may say that it is even sarcastic. The clues and suggestions given could have a feeling of sympathy, thinking that the purpose of the person in telling this scene is to let the readers know what a dear goes through during these nights. On the other hand, he could also have this sarcasm, teasing the mistress in her deeds with a married man.
Although the poem consists of only four lines, the situation is quite clear. It doesn’t seem like the person wants to influence the way readers think about lovers, because again the person is simply recounting this certain scene.
The poem is full of images, one of them is the first line. A closed door and drawn curtains suggest secrecy. Anyway, an adventure is not openly advertised to everyone. The subjects are secret and the first line suggests the secret. The second line says that there is a questionable light in one of the rooms. The light is perceived as hope, but the person considers it a bright question mark. Hope, being questionable, is certainly doubtful. This could refer to the purpose or feelings of the beloved that she is a lover. Maybe she loves the man, but the man is already married. Or maybe you benefit from the arrangement but at the same time despise it because you had no choice but to do so.
This poem is about a brand woman. A kind of discrimination prevalent at the time this same poem was written. The poet was also discriminated against during her time, ignoring her works and everything. But as they say, it takes a strong woman to speak her mind. Writing about “immoral” subjects during those times opened a path to a broader perspective. Having this poem written by a woman is in fact only because more than anyone, one woman would understand another.