I never got to meet my father...
He died when I was nine months old,
But his presence, I always felt
While I was growing up,
Even up to this day...

He would often visit me in my dreams,
Told me not to worry or despair,
Took my hand,
Told me I could go with him..
Which I almost did...

A few times, in high school
I felt a light push on my back
When my Home Economics teacher
Almost caught me nodding...I was
Too bored, to focus on her sewing lessons...

I was always saved from falling
Each time I climbed the guava tree...
I feel some kind of force stopping me,
Standing ahead of me,
Whenever I cross the street, even now...

My late aunt said she found me
Looking up and giggling
When at three or five years old,
I played by myself beside
My father's tall and sturdy book case...

I see his face when I go through
His dwindling collection of
Edgar Allan Poe books, including his
Law books, and a few western pocketbooks left,
All, with mottled pages now...

The matrimonial bed he shared
With my late mother is still in use...
His portrait is hung on our wall...
Today, the fifteenth of June, his birthday,
I look through his eyes, and-----

In silence, I greet him,
"Happy birthday, papa,
Happy Father's Day, as well."
In my mind, my father lives,
And my own stories of him therein dwells...

Sally

Copyright 2014
Rosalia Rosario A. Bayan

~~♡~~♥~~♡~~


"Hush little baby, don't you cry,
mama's here for you only
and tomorrow she will buy
all the pretty little ponies

black and brown
tan and roan
all the pretty little ponies"

lullaby sung by my mother
when I was a child


there I lay
at end of the day
safe in my mother's arms
she had a voice
so soft and low
I succumbed to its charms

I don't remember
her grey eyes
so full of care and pain
I recall her dear soft breast
and those sweet refrains

later on in life I found
she was very ill
mood swings plagued her
all her days
and then they had no pill.

she was not a
stable mom
she was always up or down
but she tried the best she could
when she was around

I won't forget her lilting voice
though she was in despair
she made those ponies
twirl and dance
to show her child

she cared.


soulsurvivor
2/7/2015