#poemph

pa•pe•les

mula nang pagkabata

ika'y madalas na hawak

na hindi ko inakalang

hanggang sa pagtanda

ay madadala pa rin kita.

.

anomang kapal, anomang nipis.

anomang haba, anomang ikli.

may lukot man o tupi

bitbit sa kamay at isip.

.

simpleng laman nung bata,

nakakasunod sa pangalawa,

komplikado sa ikatlo,

makasaysayan ang ngayon.

.

nasanay sa paraang tradisyunal

lumago ang kaalaman

nakagamit ng teknolohiya

nauso ang estilong digital.

.

sa paglipas ng panahon

nilalaman mo'y nagbabago

kung paanong ang manunulat

sa realidad ay namumulat.

.

karununga'y lumalago

kasabay ng agos nitong mundo

nabigyan ng pagkakataong

maipahayag ang mga salita Mo.

.

sa di inaasahang talentong

di malaman kung nariyan pa

ngunit awa't tulong

nabigyan ng saysay

Stuff takes time.

Dunno maybe somebody needs a reminder

To feel less depress

And loose a little bit of stress

Here, have a little reassure

from a stranger

As I stayed home one evening,

There was no one on the street,

No lovers before dawn

With loneliness as my company,

We play a song,

To fill each other without grape

And maybe the night can be young again.

“I’ll be missing you

In every gloomy day

In the space between black and white,

I’ll be missing us.

I seek you in sunrise,

And when midnight comes

I’ll be looking at the stars,

But I’ll be gazing at you.”

Yet the days blend together

And the clocks are snoozed

‘Til the last minutes of the day;

Time favors no tomorrows

Look into the screens

Of the ones you think you know

See the laughs and sorrows

And wonder what you’ve missed.

The chatter over coffee,

The slow mornings in the cafeteria,

And behind every door, opens

To people you’ve been hoping to see

Another stroll down the hallway,

Maybe this will do

To remember what has been lost,

To have courage to live anew

‘O stare, stare at the screen

They fill the void as you weep;

“Love your strange friends,

With your strange heart”.

It was late, late in the evening,

The lovers did not meet;

The clocks were silent

Kahit saan ako magpunta,

Hindi ka na nawala sa isip

Bigla 'kong masasambit

Bigla akong mapapatigil

Maaalalang paborito mo itong kainin

Paborito mo itong gawin

Madaraanan ang mga lugar kung saan kita nakasama

Maalala ang nararamdaman, sabik na sabik akong sayo'y tumakbo papalapit.

Maglalakad mag isa

Sandaling masaya

Maya maya'y umaagos na naman ang mga luha

Hindi mo na ako mahal, pero ba't mahal parin kita.

-a.a1997

October 22, 2018

Afraid

Yes. I am afraid. Afraid that each day that passes without our conversations and presence, your love for me vanishes. Your feelings are eventually changing. Where you won’t miss me anymore. You won’t need to see me because you can already let the days pass without the thoughts of me. And here I am loving you still, loving you patiently, loving you silently, without having a hold of you coming back to me. I am so afraid. I am so afraid of the thought that, once there was a person who loved me so genuinely, and then one day she changed her mind and left me.