No. It's an impudent falsehood. Men did not
Invariably think the newer way Prosaic
mad, inelegant, or what not.

Was the first pointed arch esteemed a blot
Upon the church? Did anybody say How
modern and how ugly? They did not.

Plate-armour, or windows glazed, or verse fire-hot
With rhymes from France, or spices from Cathay,
Were these at first a horror? They were not.

If, then, our present arts, laws, houses, food
All set us hankering after yesterday,
Need this be only an archaising mood?

Why, any man whose purse has been let blood
By sharpers, when he finds all drained away
Must compare how he stands with how he stood.

If a quack doctor's breezy ineptitude
Has cost me a leg, must I forget straightway
All that I can't do now, all that I could?

So, when our guides unanimously decry
The backward glance, I think we can guess why.

All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.
I never had a selfless thought since I was born.
I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through:
I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.

Peace, re-assurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,
I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin:
I talk of love --a scholar's parrot may talk Greek--
But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.

Only that now you have taught me (but how late) my lack.
I see the chasm. And everything you are was making
My heart into a bridge by which I might get back
From exile, and grow man. And now the bridge is breaking.

For this I bless you as the ruin falls. The pains
You give me are more precious than all other gains.

By: Jack Wilder (Ramon Carlos T. Castillo)

You are a gift you see,
A person made in the image of our Lord,
So you really should not care,
About another person's word.

Echoes of hate and petty,
Purely brought about by insecurity,
Things that will bring you down,
Only if you let it get to you.

So why should you be,
Afraid of what they have to say?
To the little stuff they give notice,
You yourself can't even see.

By: Jack Wilder (Ramon Carlos T. Castillo)

Tell him I said "hi",
I think it was a lie,
When I told myself,
I wouldn't fall for him.

Tell him I asked "why?",
We couldn't see what we could've become,
How it would've been all perfect,
But I forgot these were all just what ifs and would haves.

Tell him I wanted to go back,
Visit the past when were still just good friends,
I could've settled for just that,
But selfishness occured.

Tell him I asked "is it wrong?",
For me to fall in love with him?
That it was considered sin,
For me to look after someone with no conditions given?

Tell him this is goodbye,
I think it's best we part ways,
I'm done with being jealous and not being able to do anything,
That it breaks my heart to see him with someone.

But one last thing,
Ask him if I could just love him from afar,
Because seeing his smiles,
Heals the wounds he gave my heart.

By: Ramon Carlos T. Castillo (Jack Wilder)

We're in the days of our youth,
It's the perfect time to be alive,
Young and naive in the world of reality's mess,
So come with me and spread your arms wide,
Throw your problems and hang on tight,
We're about to break free and fly,
Going to disappear into the night,
Only being seen on the shades of traffic lights,
No worries, no tomorrow to bother about,
Just now and the both of us,
Gone with the wind fading into the darkness,
Forever, yes we'll be,
Forever, we'll be young.

By: Jack Wilder (Ramon Carlos T. Castillo)

You, terrify me,
I run, faster than a speeding stallion,
Distressed and lost,
Nowhere to go,
Almost taking flight,
As I gallop the way,
From the speed of running away,
Or am I really?
Trying to getting away from you?
Because here I am,
Too curious and searching for clues,
Wishing I get nearer, warmer,
Only to find out, you take a new form,
And as I feel it,
The space between us,
Only goes wider,
The between gap us grows bigger,
As every second passes,
I lose track of who you truly are,
But I admire you,
And the mystery that you are,
Because as I feel the distance growing,
As fast as lightning without making a sound,
You come back just to haunt me,
And you just follow me around,
Like my shadow in the woods,
As the night gets darker,
The moon goes fuller and brighter,
You grow instantaneously,
Creeping silently, just beneath me,
Clueless that I am of your identity,
I want to know,
But how can I find out?
When you're just a silhouette of me,
The sun just won't come,
And you're about to pounce,
I would like to repeat this,
You, terrify me.

By: Jack Wilder (Ramon Carlos T. Castillo)

Inhale, exhale— I make a long trail,
Like writing the lines of which you love to read,
A call of the aching heart,
Are seen through the words my soul would bleed.
With my hard work, your mind I feed.

And I think about it— life,
So I pick one, straighten it up,
And ignite the inspiration coming from within me,
As I show you the light through paper, pen, and nicotine,
In return, you fuel my perseverance,
And give meaning to my existence.

Such a long trail it is— life,
I think to myself as I puff off a trail of smoke into the night,
The smoke of which is a lot like life,
Long all at once— and gone in one blink.