in here fires an obvious chore:
he says
it is
from Sagada

its appropriate turmoil
sinks in the sinus,
leaving a trace of bitter
in my tongue
encapsulating my world
in the cerebra now sweet
candid electric
feisty and almost psychic

there is this
instantaneous lightning
shaking my jungles loose
out of birds on tethers.

this is something real,
he says it is from Sagada.
my dreams there made
nailed in exiled silences
behind this lamp
drinking beer
cold
warm water music
in ear.

Despite the moon, the mood
     And stars on foreign skyline,
From having seen the Earth, this world, teeming
With life, with breath, and breath Almighty,
     And spirit in things which are perceived,
Still, I feel a deep longing, a chasm,
The feeling of missing, the want
     For reliving a lot of things,

Like the beaches on the South,
Sagada, Batanes, the tarsier,
The reefs, and the mangroves,
Our fellow Filipinos eating Adobo
And the so-soft fluffiness of rice,
In celebration of our heritage,
     Our famed resiliency,

I am a tourist all my life,
I remind my self,
     Until I found you,

For they are all yours, all finest things.
     You are the islands of our country,
And all these call me
As though to take me to you,
As though you were calling out to me
     For an embrace.*

© 2015 J.S.P.

Lorsque je cesse de voyager pendant quelques jours
J'ai l'impression que le temps se fige.

Alors je me ressource et reprends mon énergie
Collecte ces précieuses heures de sommeil.

Quand elles ne se perdent pas,
dans le corps d’un homme indigène

L'inspiration me vient même, du vent frais et
Des rizières de Sagada.

Café brassé, beurre de cacahuètes fait maison
Jarret de bœuf et vin de bignay.

Les plateaux qui me rappellent le Caucase
Le son du clocher à chaque heure de la journée.

Le lingling-o que je porte autour du cou
Et le respect que je porte aux peuples Igorot et Ifugao.

She’ll move mountains, she said
Once she’s stable, she believed
Sniffing flowers and leaves
I’m confused, I’m intrigued

The Mountains of Sagada
Know pain
     More than we do.*

© 2015 J.S.P.