The Rural Maid by Fernando M. Maramag (Poem)

The Rural Maid is Fernando M. Maramag's most well-known poem and he has written well over fifty poems. It's written in the style that is uniquely Maramag's. If you read a number of his other poems, you will start to see the common glue that tends to bring them all together.

It's a poem by someone who has fallen head over heels over someone. The speaker is overflowing with romantic feelings for someone he has met just once. He is aching to see her again but he knows that may not be happening at all. He's always thinking about her and dreaming of having her in his arms.

The term "rural maid" as used in the poem could be the equivalent of the Filipino term "probinsiyana". The poet also shortened "maiden" to "maid".

How do you differentiate a rural maid from an urban maid? A rural maid is someone who grew up in the provinces. An urban maid is someone who grew up in the cities. This is the most basic difference between the two. 

The Rural Maid

Thy glance, sweet maid, when first we met,
Had left a heart that aches for thee,
I feel the pain of fond regret—
Thy heart, perchance, is not for me.

We parted: though we met no more,
My dreams are dreams of thee, fair maid;
I think of thee, my thoughts implore
The hours my lips on thine are laid.

Forgive these words that love impart,
And pleading, bare the poet’s breast;
And if a rose with thorns thou art,
Yet on my breast that rose may rest.

I know not what to name thy charms,
Thou art half human, half divine;
And if I could hold thee in my arms,
I know both heaven and earth were mine.

Other poems by Fernando M. Maramag - Moonlight on Manila Bay