Bullying, taking advantage of people, dishonesty, murders, killings, abuses
All sorts of violence
That can be seen all around
Humans fill the crowd
Yet humanity can no where be found

Since when did guns represent peace?
When did we start accepting this?
When did we start taking it as a norm?
All this violence and injustices they just don't make sense
Humanity has come a long way just to go back to being uncivilized animals full of hatred and eager desires to ****

Even that man who worked so hard to give his family a meal
What did he do to deserve this?
Who's behind this? The police? A random bystander? Somebody in power?
We'll never know, we'll never have the answer
Because he's been kept shut forever

Everyone talks about peace and how badly we need it
Yet no one wants to put the gun down,
No one wants to listen to this town
This town has shut its ears from the voices that long for peace and justice
The broken promises and crooked ways of peace
This town has been made to believe
That violence can be stopped and peace can be achieved
By holding a gun in our hands and being the bullies we don't need

Stop
Don't you hear that sound?
The desperate calls, desperate pleas that surround
Stop
Put the gun down, turn this around

Use your voice, use it as your weapon of choice
Use your voice, use your words to advocate love
Violence and hatred must be stopped
Bring humanity back
Love, respect, and faith that's what we lack

Put the gun down, turn this around
Because guns never meant peace
Violence is not the answer to this
So put the gown down, turn this around
Fight for peace, for justice, and for unity
Save this town

Promise me that in our next lives, we would meet each other
Promise me that in our next lives, we’d end up together
Promise me I wouldn’t suffer
For our eyes would meet
Our hearts in sync as they beat
You’d know my name
And you’d feel the same
You’d look at me in the same way
And I could hold you as I may
Promise me that in our next lives
We wouldn’t be like this
Where you are my bliss
Yet you haven’t even seen a glimpse
I would wait
No matter how many tries it takes
For I know it’s impossible
With this lifetime, right here, right now
But I’ll endure it all someway, somehow
So I will wait for you
In the next lifetime, and the lifetime after that, and the lifetime after that
Until we reach the one
Where I get to hold your hand
Where I get the chance to feel your warmth
So promise me that in our next lives, we’ll meet each other
Promise me that we’d end up together
Promise me I’d never have to suffer
But for now let me do this
Let me love you amidst the noise, the chaos, the mess
Let me look at you and remind myself of what I miss
Let me admire your eyes, your hands, your cheeks, your lips I’ll never be able to kiss
Let me reach out my hand as if you’d see
Let me admire your beauty as if you’d ever know me
But I promise to find you in my next life
And I will love you the same
Love, let’s meet till then

(For KSJ, 100417)
— g.g.b.

I will write about you tonight in hopes to have the right words to describe the day we first met
When you walked up to me and introduced yourself, when I first looked at your eyes and my world changed forever
I will write about you tonight and how you brought colors to my world of black and white
I will write about your smile and how your touch sent chills down my spine
I will write about you tonight and how I felt like you were an answered prayer, a prayer I’ve been making for a long time
I will write about you tonight and how you came into my life all of a sudden and ended my longing, my lonely, my hopeless
I will write about you tonight and how you made me feel like a child being in love for the first time, innocent, naïve, carefree

I will write about you tonight and how it felt like heaven in your arms
I will write about your voice and how it always gave comfort in the middle of all the noise
I will write about the way you made me feel safe despite the storm, how you felt like the calm, the peace, the rest I needed when the world was being too scary or tiring
I will write about how you felt like home in a new city, a familiar face in a crowded town full of strangers
I will write about how you would hold me and tell me you love me and the world doesn’t seem so chaotic anymore
I will write about that time when we were laughing and I looked at you and I realized I wanted to grow old with you, I wanted to be the one to hold your hand for the rest of our lives
I will write about how we promised to stay together no matter what happens, how we would conquer things life will throw at us
I will write about how we planned on getting married, have kids, and live a happy life
I will write about the love we shared – the love that made everyone else jealous
I will write about how it felt like it was going to last forever – but didn’t

I will write about you tonight
I will write about how everything turned blurry all of a sudden
I will write about the time when everything got confusing, exhausting, boring, lame
When the lively, colorful world began shaking and the colors started to fade
I will write about that time when the sparks died, when we got too comfortable, and took the little things for granted
I will write about that time when we no longer have a clear picture of what we were fighting for, and when there were way too many times when we didn’t know what we were fighting about
I will write about that time when there were more “I’m sorry I can’t make it” rather than “I will find a way”
The times when there were more “I miss you” rather than “I’m on my way to see you”
I will write about that time when we had arguments after arguments and how they didn’t seem to end
I will write about that time when we would only say “I love you” out of habit
I will write about that time when the sun has already set on us
I will write about you tonight because tonight…
I am drowning in this ocean of missing you

We had a love that burned so bright, a love that ignited a fire so big but quickly burned out
We had the kind of love that took away all fears, the love that watered the dead plants in my chest, and grew a garden inside my broken soul
The same love drowned out all of my energy, the life in me
I’d love to think that our love was too good to be true and so it had to end
The ocean of love that I was swimming into, with you holding my hand, is the same ocean that tried to drown both of us, struggling to get out of it, to swim to the surface, we had to let go
You drifted too far from me, too far that I can no longer see you, I can no longer feel you
That was when we realized love wasn’t always enough for something to remain the same
Thinking about it, I realized I can reminisce the things we did all I want, but I have already forgotten the joy of being in love and being loved in return

And that is why, tonight, I will write about you
I will write about you tonight
As if it can take us back to the time when love was enough
I will write about you tonight
As if it can take away all the pain, heal the wounds we gave each other
I will write about you tonight
As if it can stop you from drifting too far and bring you back to my arms
I will write about you tonight
As if it can ease the pain of missing you
I will write about you tonight
Like what I always do
I will write about you tonight
Because I know someday, I will no longer write about you
And you will be just another poem, another metaphor, another story
But that isn’t today
So tonight,
I will write about you.

Samahan mo akong kumawala, iwanan natin ang mundong ito sinta.
Ikaw ang nais makasama sa pag-iisa, ikaw ang aking pahinga.
Maglakbay tayo patungo sa kawalan, ang ingay at gulo ng mundo'y ating takasan.
Hanggang kailan ito magtatagal?
Walang kasiguraduhan, pero pinapangako kong hindi kita bibitawan.

Tara roon sa dalampasigan kung saan mistulang ang mundo'y tayo lang ang nilalaman.
Hayaan **** ang iyong mga kamay ay aking hawakan habang tayo'y nagsasayaw sa ilalim ng buwan.
Ipikit ang iyong mga mata at damhin ang pag-ibig ko, sinta.
Ituloy natin ang pagsasayaw na walang ibang musika kundi ang aking pagkanta.
Mga noo'y magkadikit habang ang mga mata'y nakapikit.
Higpitan ang iyong kapit, huwag kang matakot lumapit.

Sa maiksing panahong tayo'y nagkakilala, ako'y iyong tunay na pinasaya.
Ikaw sa akin ay tunay na mahalaga. Hindi kayang ipaliwanag ang nadarama.
Huwag kang mangamba, sa puso ko ay mananatili ka.
Halika sa mga bisig ko, mahal.
Panahon natin ay di na magtatagal.
Ang pagtatapos ay nalalapit, yakapin mo ako nang mahigpit.
Nalalabing oras ating sulitin, pangakong ito'y ating uulitin.

Huwag ka nang malungkot, huwag nang sumimangot.
Huwag nang pumiglas sa aking yakap, damhin ang ihip ng hanging kay sarap.
Kasabay nang pagtatapos ng gabi ay ang pagtatapos ng ating nakaw na sandali.

Dahil tayo ay alon at dalampasigan, tinakdang magtagpo kahit panandalian.
Tayo ay alon at dalampasigan.
Ako ang alon at ikaw ang aking dalampasigan, ang lugar na aking pahingahan, aking takbuhan, aking pansamantalang tahanan.
Ako ang alon at ikaw ang aking dalampasigan; ako sa'yo ay lumalapit, pilit kumakapit, ngunit kailangan kong lumisan.
Ako ang alon, ikaw ang aking dalampasigan; malayo man ako saglit, ako'y babalik at aasang tadhana'y pagtatagpuin tayo ulit.

I am aware that you are an ocean, an ocean with its endless mysteries; I wouldn't mind swimming into your deepest depths.
I want to unveil your mysteries; I want to know you.
I want your summers, your calm, your storms, your darkness.
Let me be your shore; the place where you crash, break, ruin.
Yet again let me help you build yourself up, stronger, mightier, tougher.

Let me inside your abyss where you hide your destructions, where you let no one in.
Let me love your darkness the way you never thought anyone ever would.
Bring on your most destructive tsunamis and watch me stay for I wouldn't mind drowning if that means I could hold your hand for the last time.
Bring on your strongest storms, I wouldn't mind.
I will always choose to stay.

You may see yourself as a mess but you are my favorite mess.
You are worth the trouble.
The chaos doesn't seem so bad whenever you hold me in your arms.
Yes, bring on your disasters.
Love, you are worth the chaos.