The DALIT is a short Filipino (Tagalog) poem, consisting of four lines (quatrain) with eight syllables each. The rhyming pattern is AABB. The quatrain is self-contained and has a valuable lesson. Although written in English, the five quatrains that follow were written in the DALIT format.
There’s a controversy regarding its origin. One school of thought states that the dalit is Spanish in origin, particularly because its syllabification is even or pares (pairs). Hence, it is said that the Spanish popularized the dalit in the Philippines. Another view holds that the dalit is indigenous, but the friars used its popularity to promote Catholicism, in the form of meditative verses.