Raised
in this floating
world, forever
deep.
You can’t drain the ocean

Decidedly from down
south of here
You can’t un-trace the roots.

You can’t lie and say,
“This isn’t where I grew up”
You can’t deny the fruits
of what was planted two generations ago
when your grandpatents arrived from the Philippines, seeds in tow
soil for the taking
You can’t confiscate what they claimed
when they planted their flags
into the moon-white sand of a beach in Florida
on a far side of the planet
their forefarthers have never seen

You can’t say those flags weren’t there
when wind came
You can't ***** out that pride
of country,
cut off its native tongue and its acquired taste, or pass up the plate of fried lumpia and rice passed down from the kitchen of your Daddylol
feeding seven kids day in and out with tomatoes he planted,
chickens he raised, Malonggay leaves he grew
with thumbs so green they wrote in the papers about it
He was a farmer
Your grandmother, a nurse
And i was writer
And this is our story

You can’t erase the letters of your name,
your lineage written all over it
like a map
of everywhere we been
You can’t take back the words in Tagalog and Chavacano
your Lola Shirley must have sang your mother to sleep with
You can’t take their dreams

You can't just wake up one day and undo
the ripple effects their moves
created across waters 10,000 miles east of here,
the rolling waves they curled into
or the faraway shores they washed up upon
Bottled messages in hand
Our legends held within
You can’t say centuries from now that they won’t feel it
when their feet hit the sand of their own frontier
beside the waves we stayed making
a history written in deep water
for those who come after you
to sail above and beyond.

Ikaw ang iniisip bago pumikit
Kaya pati sa panaginip ika’y sumisilip
Ang hirap palang umibig
Yung di lumilipas ang araw na hindi ka naiisip
Kaya natutulala nalang bigla sa gilid
At iniisip na maging tayo kahit lamang sa panaginip

You are someone I call  FRIEND,
You are someone I truly trust and depend.
You are my cheer leader and comforter,
my life for you is always better.

Together we had failed and succeed.
You always give ,I always receive.
You lay you my problems,
You give me motivation.
I lost my hope you've given me motivation.

I never felt alone for I have you,
But things have changed between us two.
When I slowly learned of loving you,
you started avoiding  me too.

I was on the verge of falling,
but you haven't  any plans on catching.
I lost everything because of this feeling.
The bond that we had was now being broken.

I'm sorry if I betrayed you,
I crossed the line that friendship shouldn't go.
It was never my intention to have special feelings for you,
But what can I do ?
My heart longs for you.

It started with a friensdhip
But never ended into a romantic relationship.
Instead of a happily ever after,
It ended as two people back to being stranger.

Núarín an huríng pagbaba kan duwáng kamót
pasíring sa mahalnás na háwak na nag gigibo kan búhay.  

Núarín an huríng pagkurahaw mo sa pangaran ko
habang kaulay ko an uniberso tanganing daé ka magpundo.

Sa likod ko ta napiling ipadagos an dálan kan búhay,
an henerasyon na madara kan satuyang pagkabúhay,
kitá an mga ákî na inapon kan panahon asin
kitá man an mga ákî na mapadagos
kan kasuhápon, ngunyán asin sa máabot na panahon.

Kitá an mga ákî, na pinangaki para kógoson
an kasâlan kan panahon. Daé ta man iní hinagad.
Basta naáraman ta nalang poón kan
sinabihan kita kun ano an tama asin salâ.

Ako, an hawak na inaapód mo pagkatapos mo magsigarilyo.
Iní an epekto kan paglaóg mo sa sakuyang uniberso.
apódon mo akong saímo, asin aapódon takang bitóon.
Bitóon na kaibáhan ko pirmí sa banggi.
Kun mawara ka man, aram kong masabog ka asin
igwa naman sarông uniberso an mabubuo
hanggang sa ako naman an masabog kaibáhan
an mga ákî na satuyang mabubuo.

will you be my to the moon and back?
will we ever be right on track?
will you be my all time high?
will you give me your chicken thigh?
will you be my christmas morning?
will I ever be your favourite being?
will you fancy to sit down for a cup of tea?
will we ever be a possibility?

will fate let you?

will fate?
will you?

will you be my someone new?

/pc

Let's start at the very beginning

Prologue.
Brown skin. Flat nose. Short.
I was a free land for you to take.
For once I was in glee.
Until you had me taken and used.
You have forgotten who you are.

Chapter 1.
A blank page. A mystery.
Who were you really?

Chapter 2.
White skin. Pointed Nose. Tall.
A variety of people I didn't recognize.
You welcomed them while some fought with blood.
This is what you've done.
You have sold who you are.

Chapter 3.
The never-ending battle.
The battle within oneself.
You told yourself you are free.
There are no battles, no blood, no freedom.
You have forgotten what freedom is.

Chapter 4.
There are battles. There is blood.
Yet you have chosen to close your eyes.
Is this the love you have proclaimed for me?
You have helped no one with your steels and wood.

Chapter 5.
You freed yourselves from the dictator.
But there is still no peace at hand.
You all drown from the deep flood.
Yet you'd rather race each other to the shore.
Haven't you realized? You are not in the sea.

Chapter 6.
You are not at land either.
At least not ours.
You step at our muddy lands yet your mind is far from home.
You scrub your skin until its white.
To you, your skin is dirt.

Chapter 7.
Across the land, some eyes are red.
Their hands are rough with dirt,
clutching unto a plastic that smells.
It dives unto their minds and they smiled.
I wasn't able to protect them when you saw them with a bullet in their heads.

Chapter 8.
Mothers and Fathers that I raised
Have left me and you as well
To be able to put zero's in your wallets
They fight with their hands so rough
You. For you. But what about me? How about me?

Chapter 9.
It's an unending cycle of a triangular shape.
You fall. I fall. Some rise.
You all have lost hope and wish to leave me so soon.
Is this really who you are?
Will I never find who I truly am?

Chapter 10.
An empty page.
The writer of the book grew tired.
He didn't continue— or he never got to.
No one really knew.

Epilogue.
The page was not there.
Ripped like a masterpiece.
A painting of blood along its back.

I am an open book, ready for anyone to read.
Yet you have flipped me close and left me to fill with dust.
You have left me on the bookshelf
and slept in a locked room.

An istorya na naisurat ngunyan
asin an istorya na nakrear kasuhapon
asin an istorya manungod
sa kun paano hanapon an sadiri,
kun pano pandangaton
an kada ritmo na kasabay
sa dalan kan buhay.
Iyo an istorya na
dae ko pagsasawaang iistorya.

Ini an istoryang dae kompleto,
sa likod kan mga tula,
kanta na naisurat,
Gabos ito para parahayon an sadiri. Hangga't yaon an kaniguan
dae matatapos an istorya
sa tula na sakuyang pinoonan,
araaldaw akong masurat
para tahuban an mga
piklat sa hawak,
an mga bukas na agihan
sa hawak ko.
Hangga't igwang pagkamoot
padagos an tula na pinoonan ko.
Kun gusto nindong maaraman
an istorya, mahahanap nindo ito
sa mga tula asin kantang naisurat ko.