The Case Of The Three Pigs

What is the difference between a mudfish and a lawyer?
One goes down the depths of the murkiest and blackest dirt looking for something to feed on, while the other is a fish.
---A common lawyer joke---

Once upon a time, there were three pigs who inherited from their deceased mother a pigpen.

When there were still young, they could all fit in the pigpen comfortably. Now that they were adults, they could not stay all together inside without bumping one another, thereby causing annoyance, and worse, constant feuds between themselves. Until one day when they could not bear each other’s presence in the pigpen, each pig decided to fight it out in court as to who had the better right among them to get the property. Thus, each hired a lawyer and filed one case against the other. At the inception of the cases, all the pigs were able to get restraining orders against each other; this prevented each one of them from going to the pigpen until the cases were eventually decided. As a result, each pig was forced to look for a place to rent...

[Note: Read the complete story in the book "You Filibini?" Stories and Other Writings by Amador F. Brioso, Jr., published May 2010]

A Poem On Christmas Eve

A cheerless night
Found me alone and abandoned;
Despairing to see a star that’s bright,
But I never could,
And I never did.

A listless night
Saw me lost and all empty;
Feeling lonely and cold,
Wanting to see someone I longed,
But I hardly could and hardly did.

A lonesome night
Took me along in its flight,
And slowly helped me wear off
The loneliness I thought
I could never cast off.

The cheerless, listless, lonesome night
Was turning blissful and hopeful
The moment I heard the sound
Of your voice I serendipitously found
Airborne in the wintry night.

Only then did I hear
The merry carols afloat,
Borne by children from far off
And made me feel the spirit
Of the blissful and hopeful night.

Only then did I become
Conscious of the world outside;
Thankful of the precious gift
I could neither touch or see,
But I could immensely feel.

Here with me tonight
The joyous music
Of the everlasting voice,
Colorful and always faithful,
A reminder of all things beautiful.


It is only a few ticks away
From Christmas Eve:
The frenzied Yuletide air hung restive
In a night full of pebbly December breeze:
A throwback of dreamy childhood years.

I would not want the world’s riches;
Nor to have kingly powers,
Nor to possess uncommon strength,
Least of all unearthly divinity
Over nature with its serenity.

All I wish is someone
To whom I can offer
Everything I rightly own,
And to whom I can promise
The hidden secrets of springtime.


Upon whom I will build
My own unique kingdom,
More like a heaven on land,
Which will need a queen so true
That will beautifully fit you.

It is now Christmas Eve,
And all I want is for your voice not to leave.
Before the onset of the stalking dawn
I know the blissful and hopeful night
Will not fail to see the star that’s bright.

No more cheerless, listless, lonesome night;
No more emptiness, loneness and coldness;
No more despair and longing
For anything whatsoever,
For life has given in to happiness.

A song, a gift, a poem from me
Majestically offered without a fee;
Wrapped in a Christmas-colored tree
That towered over like the grandeur of Pisa
For my one and only Liza.