Do not look at me
as if I am only a part of your dream;
or a star out of your reach.
I am here.
Be brave
and grasp me fully.

Along the mountain crest you arrived
ever so quietly
like an old yearning at dawn.
But you are nowhere here,
only a ghostly glow
that breaks out to the world
to come into the stillness
that remains.
A translucent light
in this moment’s calm
fleeting from time to time.

Is this another shade of the moon?
Or another haunting—
a dredging up of memories
from some stranger’s eyes
that you may be buried deep
amidst the horizon
or the mountain hollows
always disappearing
when the wind gets cold.
No traces of your last movement.

Still wondering why you left
and why I’ve always remained
to look at the world's beauty awning
until the sun gathers its light
and carry me
by the eddying water
to find my own heart’s flow.

Here I stretch my arms to the mountains,
listen fully to your voice as it becomes my own rhythm
and on the morrow, to wander more deeply--
curve my name in each tree of this wild
Then at last, we can free ourselves.

Tonight as I look into your eyes,
I feel like soulgazing.
Here you open your heart
and I binge myself briefly
for we know that time cannot hold still.
You are the ocean that frightens me
yet I remain in the deepest of you.
Your voice turns into a delicate instrument
but is firm and certain.
And as I sail, I no longer see your face only
my soul thrives in yours.
Tonight as I feel you inwardly,
I gather so much of you
and accept.

Our hands test the night sky
calling all the stars luminous in this
large canvas of midnight blue--
We are an army of the smallest space we
occupy and yet we sought
for the stories the universe foretell.
We find them in the deepest mystery, that
we perhaps, are also a part of it.
Take me on the path we both chase,
let our souls swim in the unknown starscape,
to find beauty within ourselves.

Maaaring narito ka ngayon
ang sakit na iyong naidulot
ay pansamantala mo ring mapapawi.
Muling maipipinta ang isang magandang ngiti
sa aking mukha. Ngunit kasabay
nito ay ang mas masakit pang parusa.
Ika'y magbabalik at habang buhay
akong lilisanin. Ang iyong alaalala
ay matatakpan ng panibagong tagsibol.
Ang sakit ay madadagdagan pa ng
nag-uumapaw na damdamin.
Mabuti pang ika'y hindi nagbalik
nang sa gayon, hindi umasa ang
mga tuyot na rosas na ito'y
muli pang mamumulaklak.

The hour between night and day
has made a promise of returning
to me.
In a bus station, I waited--
for a call
and for a ride to my destination
where clouds kiss my face
with a welcoming cold dew.
My ears only hear his voice,
a laughter I just once heard;
the awaited call!
The trees outside the window
keep on moving, but at the same time
still in their destined places.
The sky was painted blue
and the moon sets as the mark
of the greatest separation.
Today, I will see houses
built in every side of the mountains,
pine trees, strawberries
and his face drawn in my imaginary ocean.
Today, I am leaving
with a promise of returning--
to love.