The mists rise over
The waters at Asuka;
Memory does not
Pass away so easily.

~~
Asuka gawa
Kawa yodo sarazu
Tatsu kiri no
Omoi sugu beki
Koi ni aranuku ni

Venture within my mind,
I challenge you.
A forest so strange, so vast, so wild, so dense.
Bear with you a cruel set of bow and arrows,
And most importantly, a shield of your faith.
Take care of your shield and do not lose it.

My forest is teeming with trees, my memories.
Some are grand and sublime.
Their branches embrace the infinite sky,
While their shadows will brighten and lighten your soul.
Some are inferior and despicable.
Their branches dangle and will ***** you in the eye
Though you will have told them hundreds of times that you do not want to see them ever again.

My forest is abounding of creatures, my thoughts.
The rabbits, deer, and monkeys gleefully dancing around are very much worth minding.
But beware of the birds! They swoop from nowhere, nowhere at all, and pester everything.
Beware of the snakes! They are delightfully shiny and smooth.
But if you play with them, they will poison you and eat you alive.
You will exist in their foul stomach until you are complete dissolved.

The core of my forest
Is a colossal mountain of questions.
It is treacherous. It is cold.
It scrapes the sky and for sure it will scrape you.
Do not climb it,
For at the top, you will find unacceptable and invalid answers.
Most of the time, no answers at all.

Conquer me, please.
Endure the precious distance and the precious pain.
But before you end your adventure,
Pray that my forest will not become a city in the future
(A city is corrupted and cluttered and detached and deranged)
And share with me a part of yourself
Because no one does.

I didn't mind stepping on
Grass, dirt, differences,
And broken promises
the whole night
If it meant I could see the faces
That have become all too unfamiliar.

It was like looking at the night sky
For the billionth time
Except the stars that you knew had their places,
No longer did.
But the sky was still beautiful

Your voice
Pierced through me the way it always has
But with words that no longer made sense,
Words that forced it's way
Through a crowd of people you called
"Cool".

There was no problem with that, I tell you
But
My heart sank to the soles of my feet
In uncertainty
Because
You never liked that word,
"Cool".
You once told me that we were better off
Different

I grasped your hand for the first time
Since the last awkward silence,
And shook it.
Except you returned it with a grip
That felt like it belonged to someone else.
You smiled a smile that wasn't yours
Your teeth shone a light more strobe than candle

You told stories of laughter
But they were no longer about our adventures of fighting dragons and saving the helpless.
They were about jumping into the lakes
Not to enjoy the water
But to show off that new tan and flaunt that new body

And I could have sworn
Amidst the chaos you presence caused
And the enthusiasm of your story telling,
I heard you introduce yourself to me again.
But it sounded like you were saying:
"this my name but this is no longer my personality"

As my heart sank, my hopes followed
Because I was certainly standing before
A person with a piercing personality
A person with the same hands and the same feet
A person who lit up the whole room
A person who was, undoubtedly, beautiful

But that person was no longer
You

Hoy Neng,
bilis!
Halika nga dito.

****-abot nga sa akin yung ano,
yung kwan.
Yung ano na medyo pula,
pero may pagkadilaw,
ng kaunti.
Nandoon lang nakapatong sa ano,
malapit lang doon, oo doon.
(Sabay turo,
gamit ng nguso)

Dalian mo!
Bilis!
Ang bagal-bagal mo naman kumilos,
Susmaryosep!