Aking inaninag
Itong bughaw na kalangitan
Hindi nga ba
Parang kailan lamang
Nang ako’y kanyang tinalikuran?

Napako ang pangako
Na ako’y pangangalagaan
Luha niya’y umabot
Di lamang sa’king talampakan
Nalasap ko ito
Mapait at ngayo’y nag-ibang anyo
Ngayong timplang kape
Mula sa mga mata nitong
Tila ba kaytayog.

Tinangay kami ng malakas na alon
Kami’y nagpatangay na lamang
Wala akong alam
Kundi and makipaglaro
Ng tagu-taguan
Nakadilat at mulat na mulat sa katotohanan

Sakay kami ng pridyeder,
Ako at aking ulirang mga kapatid
Puno ng pighati’t pangamba
Sa uulitin,
Ito na lamang ang magagawa ko.

Sabi nila, tutulungan nila kami
Sabi ng ilan, wala na raw pag-asa
Kanino nga ba kami magtitiwala?
Kung mismong kalam nga ng sikmura’y
Di na mainda?

Wala na akong mailuluha pa
Pagod na ako sa pagsagwan sa kawalan
Wala na ngang pag-asa
Wala man lang naiwan sa amin
Sana kasama nalang kami
Sa mga buhay na nalantang
Parang bula
Tulad nila Itay at Inay
Di sana’y masaya kami
Sa kalangitan.

Pumikit ako,
Habang mahimbing ang paghikbi
Ng aking mga kapatid
Sana nga may buhay pa.

Sinagip nyo kami,
Noong una, nagalit pa ako
Ayoko sana
Kaso wala na rin kaming magawa
Sasama na kami
Kasama kami sa pagbangon
Oo, ngayon ako na’y magtitiwala
At ipapasa-Diyos na ang lahat
Siya na ang bahala.

(11/17/13 @xirlleelang)

There was a huge obscurity
The oil lamp serves
As the source of everything
While the full moon embraces
The enormity of the entire galaxy.

The engine was brought to halt,
Pacing my feet to the loamy soil
Made me feel
The roughness of the ground
As I hear the prickling of the night bugs.

There was a sweet laughter
From the blameless child
As she welcomed us
With her big smile.

At instant,
My hands moved
And offered the li’l girl
The canned-goods
To which my fingers
Clasps for almost 5-minute drive.

We face the full moon.
And on my left and my right
There exists their silhouette.

They started the conversation,
I know what they’re up to
Even if words were not heard yet.

Right beside him
Was the packed clothes;
He said they’ll give those
To the victims of the Typhoon Yolanda –
That gave me a moment of silence
They don’t have enough,
But their hearts extend
With pure compassion.

He said they’ve ate their pride
That’s why they’ve fixed on
Going to us
And asking a modest help.

The way back home
Became a lengthy trek
I thank God
For I’ve realized
How to value these people
For I’ve felt and learned by heart
How to be benevolent
Towards others.

So this is life,
This may be my life
That may be theirs
But it’s the will of God
That whenever one needs help,
The other will come for a rescue.

(11/16/13 @xirlleelang)

She keeps dancing
over the dark water;
The flash of iridescent blue
Beneath her wings,
Quick as a breath.

How else could they see?
The dragonfly dart;
Then hesitate above
The mossy green bank –
As if it gave liberated pleasure.

How could they perceive?
The green dimness falling;
Between trees, that antique stillness,
Then the vermilion leaves –
Startling, unexpected,
Like an exclamation of delight.

How could they receive?
That moment when one, then two,
Then three dragonflies skimmed
All over the once pure river.

(9/11/13 @xirlleelang)

‘Felt the heart’s old persistent music,
Beyond logic, beyond hope,
And so I didn’t heave myself
Into the blanket of fear.

To this perilous land,
I lived with you all along.
Either latent and exposed,
Still I know there’s a vivid side.

Extrajudicial atrocities
And related political violence
All over the globe;
But what your status became,
Was second among all nations!

This politically motivated murders,
Has unfastened the eyes of many.
Everything comes to blows;
Transgression and lapse like these,
Surely we’ll meet in the future.

This is the world now;
When one opt to fight or not,
Darkness will still scrap the true light.

(9/11/13 @xirlleelang)

Lost to backdrops scrolling past,
She sits knitting
in the carriage of a train.
The vague needles
They scintillate and glimpse
With the cadence of the wheels –
Upbeating ceaselessly.

Strips of tiny loops
And eyelets like dewdrops
Of condensation
Grouped on the superior rim.

Once in a while,
She gives a heave
To loosen more yarn from the skein
Of Filipino-made wool,
brushed worsted weave.
Spun and carded
from the richest fleece,
Deeper in the wicker basket by her feet.

The needles flash,
With ancient rhythms and attack
Of duellists in their chainmail coats.
With little hesitation she can tack
From plain to purl to blackberry.
Count back by rote or slip a stitch
While the fish-eyed gimlets gleam.

All gather profusely in her lap,
As windfall trove, rich-patterned
And warm with peach-fuzz nap,
All crafted from a single line of yarn.
Marvels fall continuously from wise
Spell-binding hands and all is well for now.

(9/11/13 @xirlleelang)

His hand seizes no brush,
What he has is dish alone.
There came a deluge –
A surge of days
With lovely clatter of voices.

Eggs tousled,
There’s a perplexed question within.
Amused by her doll,
That little one.

His weeks-old pant
Now rowing incessant,
Famished for something.

A trance of canvasses stretching,
Where there’re outlines
On ocher-soaked linens,
Earth-dug umber, sienna, yolk yellows,
Wet, oily and waiting to bleed
Thick and gummy from the brush.

In his veins,
The scent in ether enthralls him –
He was lightheaded
leaves me lightheaded,
Daubed and anointed
By the deity he has filched from.

Now the baby cries,
Sodden, smells like a milky cotton
Sopping every minute up,
Those implicated hours.

He’ll spill years
As the earth alters his faces.
Greens of summer,
Tarnishing into autumn..
And in winter, the north light;
Grasping firestorm
In the braids of the medium’s hair.

(9/10/13 @xirlleelang)

I saw You,
In the long brown legs
of my daughter –
In her fingers contouring
prayers without words.

I spotted You,
When she fell short
in loads of times.
Across the green field
And rose staggering,
Panting, yet exulting.

You shone and shone
Like a cartwheel of light
From the body
of my auburn and blissful girl.

And, oh,
Without any tears,
I now sob.
My daughter’s sweet bones
Flashing beneath her skin –
Beneath that thin, taut glaze;
Never did I relish this vista,
It’s an illusion.

Some scrabbling feet stilled;
To the sound of my voice,
There, a great purr rumbled.

The shape of You glowing in me,
Your works and miracles alone –
That’s what I yearn for,
For now, it’s only You that I have.

(9/10/13 @xirlleelang)