there was a silence after a kiss;
lips parted yet no sound escapes.
a pause, a thought lingering midair
the fondest smile, a loving stare.

if i could reach through the matter
feel your auburn hair
graze the back of your neck
feel the weight of what's mine.

i could pour my heart out.
it's the most precious sound;
feel your heartbeat. vivify.

constricted attention on a single point
pupils dilated and knees buckled
upon the crescendo's arrival
as if a magician's act
with a glimpse of an eye it disappears
like the flicker of a fire
you could have sworn was once there
the lights shining behind the curtain wane.
the ground rumbles as the mind twists out of recollection
it dissipates into thin air.
and you wish it remained.
and you wish to reach out with all your might
and you wish your gaze upon it would never tear.
and then you wish you knew why
and then you place blame on the world's shoulders.
someday it would be back in your palms
and gracing your sight.
someday, when the time is right.
someday, when it is willing to ignite.

the sky paints a familiar purple
a lilac trailing in the form of clouds
its vivid reflection dancing upon your skin
and your fingertips, and mine,
and the corners of your lips.

sometimes, it's in the bruises on your knuckles
or the cold blueberries on somber evenings
the way lavenders adorn your long dark hair.
windswept yet sightly.
and your darling voice would lull me to sleep
and send my soul alight.

but time and again,
its the middle ground for the head and the heart
the brief moment between sunset and evenings
the mauve that says i love you without need for words.

assurance and certainty placed among the berried table
the courage to wade in it's deepest depths.
avert your gaze skyward and see
even the vibrant heavens can be
a place where you can lay your soul to rest.

kumakaripas ang takbo ng hangin.
lumaho na ang kisap ng mga bituin.
marahil ganito talaga kapag sabik na sabik and damdamin -
kaluluwa ay tataas ngunit unti-unting bababa rin.

i've seen my lover's death
countless of times
her unconscious figure lain;
pooling blood the color of her hair --

rewinding time's arms
my fingers shall bare pain
to taste the sweet petrichor
that surrounds her once more.

to die is vain
and to love an honor -
prickly rose to a chest

i keep chasing the hour you've gone.

neither nightmare nor a dream
stained in mauve are the back of my eyelids
hued with olives floral fadings be
i wash my crime off, one spatter at a time
and erase any false pretenses.
oh how i long for a canvas that's mine
a pulse to be uphold with nails of luster
to an empty museum dark and forlorn
smile. flash. take heed. don't ask for more.

preserve the art forever.

My love, if you die and I don't--,
let's not give grief an even greater field.
No expanse is greater than where we live.

Dust in the wheat, sand in the deserts,
time, wandering water, the vague wind
swept us like sailing seeds.
We might not have found one another in time.

This meadow where we find ourselves,
O little infinity! we give it back.
But Love, this love has not ended:

just as it never had a birth, it has
no death: it is like a long river,
only changing lands, and changing lips.