A body
  --aloft a state of tranquility
posthumous jurisdiction
  of failed sanctity
pulling on triggers
  bound by religious testimonies

Do I have to force
  these confessions out of me?

I've run out of words
  to describe this iniquity...

Yet, it seems like...
  I've forgotten
That despite the beauty of my soliloquies...
  I am still not well

The water is not deep enough
  to house a village
My breathing too shallow
  to be considered devout

Should I force these words
  out of me?
Protest these cliche metaphors
  and punch the gut that claimed I couldn't?

I have written a thousand testimonies
  yet none are enough to remember my salvation
What remains of my body
  but the skin and bone found on my knees
    mapped the entirety of this blasphemous tragedy

it's hard for me to let you go,
you look like an angel
--a deviant against God,
beautiful and forbidden
--against impermanence

ever-lasting;
a taste of ambrosia
a touch of Midas; gold
--yet rarer than the birds
that seem to circle around
--your crown;
not of thorns,
but early morning dew

and the fruits you bear;
not of love,
but grief
--and indelible prints
pressed on your skin...

you make my heart beat,
for once it never moved,
until my shadow was seen.
it's hard for me to let you go.

oh what a dear
my dear girl
how dear

your pearled tooth
and whirled sway
how you put your words together in a lyrical way

oh what a dear
my dear girl

how dear you appease
your father's anger with ease
how a kiss on the cheek is enough to cease
the infinite possibilities of uncertainties

oh what a dear

my dear girl, you say
  there's no world for you here
and i fear,
  that you've said all the words you wanted
    me to hear

oh what a dear, you might have been.
you remind me of old poetry,
niche collections of trinkets,
a cracked pavement and lilies.
the amalgamation of everything i please,
and everything i miss so dearly.

oh what a dear
my dear girl
how dear you have been

short breaths, short breaths!
  under a crescent moon
i'll descend with you to the deepest of depths
  --my grand misfortune

i have considered the ocean
  and sunk onto the earth
my bare feet swimming on the grass' motions
  for despite drought, a shower of chance is enough to drown me with
    mirth

i have considered the lilies
  and have caressed them, oh so lightly
laid my hands on the soil with so much ease
  fingers, frolicking, dancing idly

i have considered your existence
  and once have i ever been filled with persistence

my bated breaths felt like winter...
timpani drums next to my lungs...
sticks and stones for my bones...
only little wood lingers inside me

if a fruit can have a heart
  can it be planted within me?
    i have consumed mine
      exponentially

maladaptive interjections
of past woven together
to craft a lace
--so beautiful, inviting

sinasayaw ang tinta
ng bawat guhit
sinusulit ang mga kahit

pale interviews
bloodsucked veins

walang makita kundi kita

O blissful sin
From the mind's anarchy
The longing taste of repugnance
And crippling dancers on the tongue's testimony

As the hour fleets unknown
A murmuration of frequency
Is forced upon me
Like the naivety of a child's rebellion

I stand longingly
And wait for death's proclamation
--So I whiff a stick of wood
And stare as the element of Earth waver

The first, I puke of retaliation
Second, I enjoy the satisfaction
Third, I experience the body's emancipation
Fourth, I embrace the end of an operation

At the final act, of my Earthly bounds and desires
I neglect the chance of an association
The truth of incarnation
As the smoke of wood lingers on the roof of my mouth and nose