The door is closed, the curtains drawn inside
A room, a bright question mark of light…
Outside your door an empty limousine
He waits in the brimming emptiness of the night.
Angela Manalang-Gloria is a Filipino poet who wrote poems in English before the war. Less attention was paid to her works during those times, which explains why her entry was ignored in the 1940 Commonwealth Literary Competitions. Her collection of lyrical pieces exploring a woman’s private passions received less favor at the time, but it has appreciated in recent years.
The poem “Dear” consists of only four lines and was previously criticized for “saying nothing but that inside there was a light, outside there was a limousine. The poem describes a certain scenario. We could conclude that it is one of the nights when the mistress, or the “dear”, as the title suggests, spending time with her lover, who is probably a wealthy married man, was a taboo subject before.
Darling, as mentioned, means “lover” and a mistress 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 has an affair, she is labeled a lover, but when a man commits the same sin, there is no known equivalent for the term.
This theme could arouse the interest of women, because it is the mark of their gender that this poem talks about. I’m also inclined to believe that when news of things like having a relationship outside of marriage comes up, 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 character’s voice describing the scene. It just describes, but somehow we could say that the voice is suggesting what the title says: it suggests that this is one of the nights in the life of a loved one. We definitely cannot say that the work sympathizes with the female gender, because as it was said, the voice of the person describing the scene simply describes and gives clues. The work can be endearing, but at the same time, some might say it’s even sarcastic. The hints and clues given could have a sympathetic meaning, thinking that the character’s purpose in telling this scene is to let the readers know what a dear one goes through during these nights. On the other hand, she could also have this sarcasm, mocking her lover 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 character wants to influence the way readers think about the lovers, because again the character is simply telling this particular scene.
The poem is full of images, one of them being the first line. A closed door and drawn curtains suggest secrecy. Anyway, an adventure is not openly advertised to everyone. The matters are secret, and the first line suggests secrecy. The second line says that there is a questionable light in one of the rooms. The light is perceived as hope, but the character sees it as a glowing question mark. Hope being questionable is in fact doubtful. This could refer to the purpose of the mistress or her feelings about him as her lover. Maybe she loves the man but the man is already married. She or maybe she benefits from the arrangement but at the same time she despises it because she had no choice but to do it.
This poem is about a marked woman. A type of discrimination that prevails at the time this poem was written. The poet was also discriminated against during her time, ignoring her works and everything about her. But as they say, it takes a strong woman to speak her mind. Writing about “immoral” topics during those times opened the way to a broader perspective. Having this poem written by a woman is really just because, more than anyone else, one woman would understand another.