You are no more than
A cow’s foot
Up my mouth
Down my throat
You tread down roads
Long forgotten
Yet foreign
To an unknown being
Left standing
In the middle.
You are no more than
A lion’s paw
Landing on an antelope’s
Fury, yellow skin
But when it runs,
It sprints with the wind.
You plunge like a fish
And waters purge you.
You are no more than
A fly
On someone’s back,
Settled restlessly
Skin deep, pores open
For maggots of deceit.
You are no more than a thumb,
A peck of sand,
A bliss too distant to pursue.
I curse the hours you became
The mist of a Virtue.

When, but a time
of hours counting days
and minutes become seconds;
light-shining grace -
I gaze on my One,
Once.
Intrepid and dreamy,
wary of a cannonball
that is
You.

And somewhere,
somehow,
I remain unperturbed
while your gaze
befall in slumber.

There shall be
no dawn,
as Dawn itself
waits.
An hour in passing
is an hour
in vain.
Gentlest, most hallowed
like a song
of the night;
words are but words
spelled
in neon lights.
Mist,
let me greet you.
Let me say goodbye.
Let me bade you
farewell.
Let me kiss you.
Let me cry.
Let the fog,
finally,
as it thinly unveils,
shut you
blow sand
unto your cold, cold eyes.
Someone break
the ice.
Someone will.
Someone will.
In eternal slumber,
someone will;
someone,
most precious,
gifted
heart of summer.

Dumaan ako sa Nagtahan
at doo'y nanahan
aking diwang gising
at minulat,
pilit binulag
ng isang dakot
na Asin.
Rumampa sa Laong Laan,
pilit inabangan
ang pagtila,
tila Luha
ang tanging pakinabang.
Tumawid sa Lacson,
nadapa --
bumangon.
Sumakay ng traysikel
sa Ocampo,
pumara sa Crisostomo;
nangapitbahay sa Maria Clara
nagpalamig sa Ibarra
hanggang Simoun,
Quintos, Dapitan.
Hindi ka matagpuan.
Tila silyang marupok
na walang pakinabang;
Tila laway na muntik
masayang
ang paglalakad ng pusong
minsan nasagasaan
noong binagtas ang kahabaan ng Dimasalang.

Umuwi sa Sampaloc,
kumuha ng gamit.
Palihim na naglakad
papuntang Blumentritt.
Pinagpawisan sa pagsakay
sa Recto.
Anong ginagawa ko rito
sa Quiapo?
Isang makipot na sangandaan
kailangang mairaos daanan.
Isang hakbang palayo
sa maputik na Ocampo;
minsan nang bumagyo dito.
Meron pa bang tayo?

Stained pillow covers
Write their own
Story.
Mine said,
“pens are dearest
Yet most worldly.”
Half empty *****
Atop a wooden table
Unfinished meal
And a
Misty glass window.
And then,
Rain speaks once,
Twice,
Thrice –
Bed’s empty.
I am
Empty.
Perhaps,
Forever be.