...the sorriest thing
When you left me
For leaving you so long,
Or was it yours?

If it is mine,
Then leave it broken.
Leave it broken.

But if it’s yours,
Then let me say to you,
At least,
That I am sorry, uncertain
Of your return.

And then tell
Your close friends
That it was me
Who begged for you
To stay.

© 2010 J.S.P.

Imagine me, love,
Lost in the ceiling of the ocean,
Afloat to where my wishes are,
Ever hopeful.

Tell me, will you...
Will you imagine for me
That boat, my loving rescue?
Or will you bring your moving isles
Back to carry me?

Will you, like the rain, bring me rainbows?
Or will you, like the rain, bring me tears?
Dearest, like the Sun that finds his home,
Or a jewel tossed to slowly drown,
I'll bask in you,
And always will, for you.

Imagine me, love,
Wandering,
Fishing for your deep heart.
My nets, tired,
Thinking of your breath.
And the moon swims already.
Now ask me:
Can my true love wait?

Love, imagine me,
Your navel, my head,
All that touched each other,
And all that kissed before they sleep.

Love, remember me,
Like this,
Like a prayer,
For this
Is the only way...
...we'll be the same.

© 2010 J.S.P.

I adore the evening still,
Though not as dark as it used to,
Nor as dark as her eyes.
I guess...the shadow of the world has forgotten me.
And I have no stars for her.

Well, she's asleep now.
Novels, stuck in her favorite pages.
Her bed longs for her sweet weight just as I.
And the weak rain outside was a long-playing record.

The playful wind dodges her hair,
As if to search for new strength
In the coming dawn of her waking.
And my hesitant arms drifted elsewhere with them,
To look for the finest of roses,
So that in the morning she may be reminded
Of the touches I long to give.

Such is the beauty of this night-
Somewhere she's asleep and somehow
I think of her.

And so,
I am writing these verses now,
Before I end them...
...with 'I love her'.

© 2010 J.S.P.

I know you too well.
I know your disregard for me,
For everything
About me.

I know the face of the ocean.
I know your waist that turns you.
I know the magic of your laughter
That heaps upon me,
Upon the shadow of me the Sun abandons.
I harbor all of your beauty that are unowned
And my heart moves there.

All my struggles march into you,
Towards you.
I am aware of the success
That might never come to me,
As some things are meant for your denial,
For your forgetting:

Isles, alleys,
Roofs,
Banners in the streets;
Let all forgotten things be forgotten still,
Quiet,
Awaiting all of your gifts
All of their lives.

But please...
Don't deny me of the gift
Of forever loving you:

For all things,
All days even,
Might finally forget me.

© 2010 J.S.P.

I travel in your fair thoughts
As though to travel in your world.
Sometimes, I try to understand
Why your eyes cannot reach me.
Sometimes, I do not know you but--
But still I want to linger
Like I truly know you.                  

Shyly, I intend to blanket you with my palms
As if I can cocoon a butterfly back
Into its gentle sleep.
I am absorbed at it and I cannot disengage.

You bring hope and needed refuge to a wandering soul.
Cluelessly, your blue warmth caresses,
And it opens for me
Like an afternoon:
My rest from tough day's work.
Because of you I can somehow get by
With this life.

Love,
You're my north star,
And another,
And a few hundreds more.
I intend to walk and follow
My disregard for my longing heart.
But still, at night, you form for me
A constellation, a guiding invitation
Just to love again.

And how I need to lean on you,
Like a book leaning to another.
But at times, when I can see you reaching out,
It is my hand that readily un-fists and steadies,
Worried for which its not accountable of.

Because of you I can only imagine--
How immense would re-birthing
Drowned islands be inside your heart,
As I wonder at a far-off shore
How to get there, how to know you.

'Cause maybe
Just like me,
You are finding someone new.

© 2010 J.S.P.

Your shoe...
...meets...
...your toothbrush.

© 2014 J.S.P.

You made...
...this goldfish...
...smile.

© 2014 J.S.P.

Love...
...is shorter...
...than Haikus.

© 2014 J.S.P.

It is when I remember your smile
That I remember to smile.
Not smiling outwardly,
But having that hope
Of days brighter,
Now that you have come my way.

I have come a long way from sad
To not-sad, only to be drifted here,
Seeing you,
Once,
And then not having to see you again,
But still end up happy,
And definitely
Wanting to be happier.

It is when your lips part and un-part;
It is when your eyes blink and un-blink,
That a man focuses
And be out-of-focus at the same time.
I have forgotten to pay my fare.
I have forgotten to get your number.

It is when a man writes this thing down
Right away, impulsive.
It is when a poem is not as beautiful
As to whom it is pertained to.
It is when a man writes something down
On a receipt.

I better keep a frown ready,
When I am down,
That I may be reminded
Of that gift you have.
And then I’d smile.

This is when a man makes you matter.
This is when a smile is both inside and out.
This is when you smile me out of lonely.
This is when you smile me in
To the very Word of God.

And now
This one smile
Has two smiles
To smile about.

Now I go,
Straightforward,
Saying:
You had…
…the sweetest smile.

© 2012 J.S.P.

Words vaguely hidden
inside a woman's heart.
has depth and camouflaged
feelings kept aside.

Possible Happiness
a noble man subsides,
chivalrous as given.
Kept thoughts and play blind.

Cold cloud we feel
are kept with out most intentions.
to free our souls wrapped from grief
and unwanted strings of tension

Obstacles we face
apprehensions we self drive;
Time is inevitably given,
through this pain we slide.

Dala na din ng pagod ako ay humandusay ng walang kaabog abog
Sa bangketang madumi, ang katawan ko ay pinabayaan.
Basa ng ulan, ang pag ubo'y walang alangan,
Hanggang sa muli, hanggang sa makasakay
Dala na din ng pagod sa pagkayod at hanap buhay
At pakikipagtunggali sa mundong walang tigil, puro tagay.
Ang pag aasam maging karaniwan at humanay
ay 'di mawaglit. Hindi parin labis na masanay.
Bakit nananatiling lumalaban sa tamis at pait?
Dala na din ng pagod, ay hindi man lang mkapag ahit.
Ang pagod na wari sa sabog na balbas ay di alintanang lumago,
Buhok na primitibo ay minsan 'di na mailitrato.
Sapagkat napakaraming bagay ang naikot sa isip,
Upang sarili ay ihuli at sadyang balewalain;
Dahil minsa'y di mapigil ang sariling takbo ng ideya,
Sa pagkain ng isip sa puso, minsan ikaw ay madidismaya.
Sapagkat ako ay tumatanda ng paabante
Na walang iniisip kundi ang mabilis at walang kasiguruhang bukas ,
Na walang oras man ang pwedeng malibre at mabakante.
Dala na din ng pagod ako'y biglang natuturete
sa ingay ng maduming palengke, sa mahal ng kuryente,
Sa araw araw na madugong pagbyahe, pamamasahe;
Sa mala sinaunang Kastilang amo. Mga taong may ugaling dyahe.
Ang pakikisamang hinog na alam nating importante.
Dala na din ng pagod, alam nating hindi pasko parati.
Sa ambisyon at oras, ginagawa ang lahat at pilit naghahabol,
Kapag isipan ay nalason. Bilisan at ang oras ay nagagahol.
Dala nadin ng pagod, nagiiba ang pangangailangan
bakit ang dating madali ngayon sa hirap ay saksakan?
ang maliit at lumalaki, ang punong kahoy **** matikas,
ay sadyang binabato sa tuwing ito ay namumunga ng wagas.
Sa kabilang buhay, huwag **** kalilimutan.
lahat ng paghihirap ay sadyang mawawala.
Mga maling desisyon huwag kaagad itulak,
mga iniisip huwag sadyaing ibalak.
Dala lang yan ng iyong saloobin at pagod iho,
matatapos din ang pait sa sa paglaklak ng alak

Free your castles to the sky.
Hold a hand
Other than yours
And speak
Like you never met me,
As I go from passing glance
To stare.

Let January be itself
And us
The month to follow
Or months
If your heart seemed willing:

For I am not your friend
Or a stranger
That wanted to be.
I'm just in love,
And in love
I breathe anew.

So search now
As if you haven't found me,
But as for me,
I've found my heart

© 2010 J.S.P.

Love’s not simple, God knows it’s not.
If it is simple then it is not love.
But to make it simple, to make it seem simple,
I am sending it out to you, word for word,
Line to line, poem after poem.

I am handing it out to you
Like a million dollar contract.
I am making you feel it, touch after touch,
One halted-touch to the next,
Sadness and happiness.

So forgive me, if I burden you
With all love’s complexities.
Forgive me, if I am heaping it
At your feet, all this confusion.

My heart is only boat tonight,
And you have every right
To own the ocean.
My mind is only wind tonight,
Yours is a closed window.
Our hands were the shiest couple,
And our elbows were French-kissing
For quite some time now.
So I have a liking
For what I cannot have.
I think it is quite clear.

Don’t pull me in.
Don’t push me away.
Don’t tire yourself.
Open the door
Or just have it closed.
But please forgive me,
If I knock at your door
Forever, for I love you,
And I love you, simply,
With all its complexities.

I am offering you
A key to an opened door-
My heart.
Use it well.

Forgive me, dear,
But I love you,
And it is
That simple.

© 2011 J.S.P.