You walked away
and then I was suddenly healed.

This heart is deceitful above all things.
It is high on feelings on a Saturday morning.
Who can understand its battles, its dancing, its bending?
Mold me and remove this fickleness.
Help me go back to your will.

There were no railways to follow
There were no signs to read
and no traffic light to signal.

There were only traces of memories
but we still, somehow, found a way
to hurt each other again.

She worked like an aromatherapy
and affected him like a curse
he won't be able to escape

ika-labintatlo ng Agosto,
naghihintay ako ng sulat mo.
Maghapong nag-aabang sa tapat ng pintuan
inaasahang darating ang kartero
dala dala ang liham
ngunit walang napala, marahil ito na ang hinihintay na babala.

The eyes of a beloved give answers in yes or no
and the details in between.
It is not just a window to the soul.
It is a candle to dark rooms and a warning at the edge of a ravine.
It is not magic,
But science backed with knowledge and experience.
Sometimes it is a hypnotizer's pocket watch,
But every day it is just the eyes of a beloved asking
if you have not eaten yet.

I am waiting for the full moon to arise,
and for the shooting stars to pass.
So that I could close my eyes
and wish
that right now
you'd become
someone that I dislike.

You were fooled by his 1s and 0s
you thought
"01101001 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110100 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101"
says he likes you,
when he really told you
"I hate you"

Overwhelmed by your galaxy
swimming through the river of stars,
this innocent soul,
in no time,
will be consumed by your black hole

Please don't break my wrist.
We can hold hands,
but not too tight.

Cotton candy kisses
Blood-rushing roller coaster ride
Spinning high like a ferris wheel
Lovin' this hiding and seeking
That's what we felt when we entered this carnival love life

It has been raining peonies and carnations
since you said "hi"
and I have been walking on
cherry blossom-covered pavement eversince.

So I would like to take a rest.

Because my hands are swollen
from writing your name
over and over and over again.

Because my eyes forgot how to blink
whenever I see you buy coffee
in that cafe along 7th street.

Because my ears only hear
your deep voice
and triggers the fault lines in my body
waiting to attack like an earthquake
and cause major damages including butterflies, no, dinosaurs in my stomach.

Because my nose hallucinates your smell.

Because my lips long to call you all day,
all night, every hour of my life.

My senses go crazy and becomes uncoordinated.
My knees go weaker and I can't move but still smile like an idiot at the thought of your being.
You make my head spin
and you make my heart twirl
like a circus girl.

I wanna whisper all my experiences to you
But you turned your ears away
So I stopped my stories
And started my opinions

I have created a beautiful contract
between your poetry and mine
But
it was broken
when I tragically, accidentally, hopelessly ended it.

I beg you to stop sleepwalking in my dreams!
Your once unfamiliar face keeps on popping up like a surprise.
I tried to shove your ghost into the darkness,
into the abyss of my subconsciousness
but you keep on escaping with the ladder my heart made.
I vowed not to ever think of you again -
to make you a stranger once more.
But the heart is cruel,
It plays and gambles
until I lose to it.
This heart is very cruel indeed.

And she made him dance through the darkness
as if there were spotlights and showgirls

Freed from the spell cast when I fell deep into the wishing well of your cursive letters that formed the ribs that caged my heart and chained it to your expanding lungs that exploded and took all the air that I breathe.
I died, but then I am free again.

Don't stand so close to me,
I might love you.

He's much more like an illegal drug,
waiting to be opened
so he can **** you.

He did not put her on a pedestal
nor made her his queen.
Instead,
he wrote her and made her his favorite song.

When I was younger, I asked God for you.
He replied with a no. I tried to justify myself,
Still, he said no. I moved on.

A few years later, I asked why he could not compromise us
And he showed me that
I have the kind of love that is too much for you and
You have the kind of love that would leave me unsatisfied,
And I was never meant for that.

He made me remember the time I can't sleep
Because I was looking for more and the time
I was left hanging like a deer on a cliff,
And I realized he's right.

So don't come back.
I'm not going back on that cliff anymore.

I hope one day you find your muse
And that you won't stop writing songs for her.
I hope you find her when the sun is setting
And you're drinking your warm coffee in your favorite coffee shop.
I hope your eyes meet when she's outside the window
And the wind is blowing her hair.
And you hear God's confirmation.
She's the one.
And then you will realize, it was never me after all.

I can sleep tonight
because your voice
reminded me
of grandma's lullaby

Let me hear you strum my hearstrings
and let me sing the tune of your soul.
Let's create a melody,
A harmony that is you and me.

Dearest Pluto,
How did you feel?
When 'planet' was taken away from you?
Dearest Pluto,
How did you feel?
When 'planet' was given again to you?

Take your heart and wrap it in fine silk.
Love elegantly like candle-lit dinner and aged wine.
Slow dance to jazz or juke box
Until your body memorizes every step
to the beat of hearts loving.

But do not forget to guard that fragile thing.
Remind yourself that your heart is too precious
To be broken easily by unworthy knights.

Most Days,
I dream of becoming taller
So I can reach the stars.

And then he came
And promised the Milky Way.

But before I can even hold
Dead stars in my hands,
He jumped to another galaxy
And left me wishing,
"I wish I was taller."

Hassle.
Nagsulat si Fidel,
Pero anong nangyari?
Walang napala sa isang daang tula,
Luha ang kapalit at sakit ang sinapit
Dahil pinilit ang gusto pero ang gusto niya ay pumili ng iba.

Kaya hindi na kita gagawan ng isang daang tula.
Titigil na dito sa pang pito at hindi na tutuloy sa walo.
Talo.
Talo lang din naman kahit umabot pa ng singkwenta,
Dahil hindi naman benta sayo ang mga pakulo,
Ang mga salitang kinumpila para iparating na ika'y gusto.

Ano na nga ba ang gagawin ko?
Ititigil na ang pag titig sa litrato,
Lalabanan ang isipan na pagbulay-bulayan ang mga dahilan
kung bakit hindi maaring maging tayo.

Piniling hindi ka na alayan ng 'sang daang tula.
Piniling alisin ka sa aking haraya.
Pinipiling maging malaya.
Magpapaubaya.

Pero minsan talaga
'Di mapigilan magsulat ng isa pa
At isa pa,
Hanggang sa nakakatawa na
Dahil umabot na pala sa isang daan ang mga tula.

I talk in commas and periods,
you talk in italic subtitles.

I saw someone fall in love again.
Said his heart danced
to a different beats-per-minute than before.
It smelled of pressed jasmine and maturity
compared to cotton candy kisses and butterfly wings.

I asked why does he keep comparing?

He said
The first love's immaturity is a gate
To the next one's finesse.

I did not come with an instruction
Like a box that says,
"Fragile, handle with care."

Most of the time,
I am quiet and alone with my thoughts.
Sometimes, I am louder than the trucks honking in the freeway.

I am the calm in the middle of chaos.
I am also the storm itself.
I like logic,
But live to defy it.

My stories may not be all rainbow slinkies and polly pockets,
But I know,
I am made of miracles and chilly Sunday mornings.

If ever you find yourself doubting your existence,
remember that there's a reason you are alive.

Lavenders are not always in bloom,
but when they are
they become beautifully alive.
And everyone is in awe of its splendor.
Not even a king's robe can compare.

Sometimes pruning is necessary for growth.
Sometimes healing comes through rain.
Sometimes a year of drought makes you realize
how much you wanted to be alive,
and you start praying for rain.

You're almost there.
Like a lavender,
exude a strong scent
reminding everyone your time to bloom has come.

I pretended to be under the stars with you.
The make-shift strobe lights from cheap laser pointers became shooting stars in which you offered wishes while I look in amazement. I don't know the color of the stars in space, but ours are red. And red is anger and hunger and maybe that's why it didn't last.
Or maybe, I'm just blaming those cheap laser pointers because I have to justify my short-lived love, my faults.

The way you write things
has saved my unsaved spirit
and made me want to run in meadows
and make the dead flowers and grass jealous
because I was revived
by the blues you wrote

Akala **** hindi mo na makikita pa kahit kailan. Ngunit iniluwa siya ng gabi. Unang beses sa mahabang pagkakataon, kinumbinsi mo ang sarili at kinumbinsi siyang samahan kang maglakad ng mabagal sa maiksing kalsada. Hindi siya pumalag. At sa dulo, inalis niya ang tuyong dahong nakasabit sa buhok mo. At gaya ng dati, hindi siya magpapaalam. Ibabalik mo siya sa gabi, ika labing isang minuto makalipas ang alas onse, iniisip kung sinong magmamay-ari sa kanya balang araw. Uuwi kang mag-isa, wala nang traffic sa EDSA, wala na ring lumbay. Sa iyo ang huling halakhak pero ngingiti ka na lang at magbubuntong hininga.

Your left-handed lover
is never on her right mind
but you dearly love her
proving that love is blind

He touched her.
And in awe,
he looked at her like she was a love spell.

Help me!
I'm on the e
                   d
                   g
                   e,
                         One more touch
and I'd become ear-cutting Van Gogh insane.

Why do you have to throw rocks on my window?
You can just climb the mango tree and yell my name.
I promise I'll open my curtains and look at you like how Juliet looked at Romeo for the first time.
But please, don't die.