Revisiting my garden

Don’t forget to tend your garden.

It has been yearning for you.

Your dreams, hopes and simple joys

Don’t abandon them.

It is time to revisit your garden.

Your younger self in a different body

She has been waiting for you.

People will say, “you are no longer a kid”

but you can still frolic under the sun

or dance in the rain.

Be a sanctuary

but protect what is yours.

01/16/25

It is a miraculous thing for poets to unearth the words that clearly describe a phenomenon or moment. It is their pleasure when someone or something among creation kindles them. It is nearly impossible not to be mesmerized with their orchards where metaphors and symbolisms blossom; however, beyond the façade is a collection of fragments. Catching them for the first time is like noticing the cracks of the roof’s surface but accepting them is watching the sunrays peek through the gaps.

It is impulsive to conclude your infatuation when you have merely known them through their piece’s first line.

the brightest colors

There is the kind that sees your insecurities as stars in a pitch-black sky.

There is the kind that teaches you that surviving isn’t the only way to live.

There is the kind that is an added value to life when you thought that you were already wearing the brightest colors.

No city

“There is no city that I like.”

It is neither about the glaring lights nor the superficial reasons.

It is about the absence of familiarity,

the fast-paced environment,

the constant competition,

the blurred and never-ending lines,

the predictable queries,

and the tolerance for the shallow.

I have never liked any city…

until one encounter.

It is never about the place

but the people in it.

“Kilala kita.”

Iyan ang mga salitang madalas ko marinig sa mga kaibigan ko.

Kahit sa gitna ng aming hindi pagkakaunawaan at sa mga araw na hindi kami nagkakasama, hindi pa rin maikakaila kung gaano namin kabisado ang isa’t isa.

Dahil dito, wala kang maitatago sa kanila. Iyon ang kagandahan ng ganitong uri ng koneksyon. ‘Yong kahit wala kang sabihin, alam nila pag malungkot ka o pag pagod ka. At madalas ay alam din nila kung ano ang gagawin at hindi dapat gawin.

“Sama ka?” “Tara, labas tayo.”

Iyan ay mga simpleng tugon ngunit hindi ito palaging nangangahulugang paggastos ang solusyon para makalimot sa panandaliang pinagdadaanan. Nangangahulugan ang mga ito na nais ka nilang damayan.

Nakaka-miss din ang mga pagkakataon na malaya tayong magkita-kita na tila tumutugma ang talaorasan ng bawat isa. Sa mga panahon na hindi na tayo madalas magkasama-sama, tandaan ninyong hindi kayo nabawasan ng kakampi. Lumipas man ang panahon at makalimutan man tayo ng mga lugar na minsan nating binisita, may makakaalala at makakaalala pa rin sa inyo.

Sa pagpunta mo sa dagat para huminga at sa paglabas mo nang mag-isa,

alalahanin mo na may mga taong natuwa sa presensya mo at natatawa pa rin sa mga kwento mo.