Mudspring - Mt Makiling's Mystical Crater

Mudspring - Mt Makiling's Mystical Crater

Dr Abe V Rotor

On the trail to the Mudspring with the author's family

It's a long trail if you start at the foot of Mt Makiling,

     take the road with a four-wheel drive,

then stop where the road ends and from there start

     a long trek you really have to strive.

Among the huge towering trees you're but a dwarf,

     among creatures crawling or flying,

searching far beyond of what they are looking for;

     theirs for survival, yours meaning.

Mudspring Crater, author with children.

Incessantly the crater pops scalding mud

     and gases that boggle the mind,

a mystic shroud where mist and cloud meet,

     a spectacle of a different kind.

Everybody loves this legendary mountain,

     though fiery inside to be free;

Lofty is her majestic pose be near or far

     reclining in peace and beauty.

Wonder the young mind thinks of this world,

     a hybrid of fantasy and reality,

where spirits live and mortals dare to tread,

     in a lifetime journey to infinity. ~

Mt Makiling is a dormant volcano in Laguna, site of the historic University of the Philippines at Los Banos, and the International Rice Research Institute. The mountain has a profile of a reclining deity, Maria Makiling, for whom this mountain is named.