Pack your bags tonight
while we are all asleep
bring with you that lamp
and the gun under the desk
beside the bed
of Uncle Roberto.

Zip the tent without a sound
and mind your steps
tip toe, you must
because no one should hear
the thuds and thumps
as you escape tonight.

Wear your coats, Darla
the snow is getting worse
run fast and away, my lady
because hunt is scarce
there’s no more to eat
and they plan to feast on you.

 

There he was, lying on the rooftop
on his makeshift bachelor’s pad
on the third floor of their house
where he spends all his day
just staying there
staying away from people
evading everybody.

Her mom would knock
would knock even louder
shouting and cursing
but he wouldn’t answer.
He wants to be alone.
He needs his moment
to be on his own.

Her dad was furious
knocked even more
and even almost broke the door
but he was persistent.
He won’t take meals.
He won’t take anything.
He needs his time.

No one knew why.
Was it because he’s not graduating
or because of his girlfriend’s child
or because he was caught with drugs
or because he lost a kidney
or because he can’t tell his family?
No one knew.

So there he was, lying on the rooftop
of his makeshift pad,
full of regrets.
His body, thin and famished,
bathed in blood.
There he was, lying,
Dead. 

Ipagpapaalam na kita sa dating ako
Sa dating taong nakilala mo
Sa lahat ng masayang alaala
Na binuo mo kasama siya
At sa taludturan ng pag-asang
Muling babalik ang lahat
Sa dati
Sa normal
Sa dati nating samahan.

Ipagpapaalam na kita sa dating ako
Pagkat ngayon ay patuloy ang aking pagbabago
Ang aking paglayo
Ang aking patuloy na paghubog
Ng aking sarili
Nang sa gayon ay malimot ko na
Ang alaalang nais kong ibalik
Kasama ka.

Magpaalam ka na sa kanya
At sa kahapong masaya
Pagkat bukas makalawa
Ang lahat ng ito
Ay maglalaho
Mawawala
Kasabay ng dating ako
At marahil ng buhay ko. 

Poetry is not something you as a poet interpret to the readers. You make them interpret and understand it their way. 

Monkey, monkey, swing to a vine
Save me from longings lost in time
Swing and swing, little monkey
Help me salvage my sanity

I’d like to walk away
And not come back
Leave the world behind
Find my own loop maybe
And never come back.

I’d go places no one has gone
And forget the past
Take with me my hopes
The hopes that I’ll be fine again
And forget, just forget.

I’d run at top speed
And leave my thoughts of you
Run forward and beyond
Never take one step back
And leave you forever.

But then, I can’t.

I don’t know how to write anymore.
I don’t know how those words could make a line of poetical sense.
To me, all these words only make up rubbish scribbles without any dense.
They come together to create a melody of letters written with haste.
All these words I try to compose, they are as good as waste.
I can’t even come up with the right thoughts to appeal to the emotion.
No appeal to a human soul, a stupid tell-tale ballad.

I don’t know how to write anymore.
I have forgotten all the rules to follow and the rules to break.
To me, there seems no path to tread and no risk to take.
The words are scattered in my head.
The lines are spinning as if I’m dead.
The words line up and they make up nothing.
Not a poem, a lyric, not even prose.
They just line up and mean nothing, feel nothing at all.

I don’t know how to write anymore.
I don’t know where to get everything from.
There seemed to be this well of emotions.
Now, it’s drained to nothingness, an endless drought.
The heart of a poet, the one that I used to bear
has gone rotten, forgotten, might as well be dead.
The memories that cradle the rhythm of words
seem to take away with it all that’s now lost.

I don’t know how to write anymore
since the day that you left. 

People who forget, goodbye.
Farewell forever.
It is getting tiresome
to wait and wait
for you to remember me
without me having to remind you
of my pitifully unnoticeable existence.

Goodbye, my friend,
and thank you for the stay.
It might be just a short time
but then it wasn’t me
who made you leave.
It was just you
who chose to.

I will always remember
the good times that we shared
and all the laughter
shall linger in my memory
the way that it should have stayed
in yours forever.

Goodbye, people who forget
I won’t wait for you
to remember me anymore
because waiting that
it like waiting for nothing
at all.

Goodbye, people who forget,
I am killing you tonight. 

Take care of her, you.
Always make it a point that, by the end of the day,
she is happy and not thinking about her past.
Make her laugh with jokes that aren’t even funny,
it makes her laugh twice as much.
Ask her if she’s fine, and if she said yes, ask again
for, sometimes, she hides the pain
behind those cracks of laughter.
Tell her that everything will be alright
because soon for sure they will.
Tell her to hope for the best
because the best is yet to come.
Sing her songs no matter how your voice
seems croaky and nasty to the ear.
Sing her a love song, her favorite melody,
an out-of-tune run straight from the heart.
Ask her if she’s already home at night.
Get mad if still she’s not.
Worry about her, even if she told you not to
because only then will she feel that you care.
Love her and love her more
even if she doesn’t seem to love you back
because actually she cares and love you as much.

Take care of her, you,
and never hurt her too. 

Wake up with the sun greeting you with its grand heat
Or sleep again to go back to those dreams that make you believe
In things like magic and mysteries and singing on your spotlight
In making the things that you always wanted to happen happen
In conquering the battles you never get to win
In living the life you would rather live and die for.

Wake up and face a world where you survive daily struggles
Or go back to slumber and believe all things impossible
Believe in ghosts and levitation and flight and spells
Believe in being into different situations in one silent snap
Believe that the impossible is but to happen
Believe in happiness, in bliss, in love that’s best

Wake up and live amongst the dreadful realities
Or just snore and dream of all of it
But then, believing that the things you wanted
Shall only happen in your sleep
Is like taking away the reality that things will happen anyway
Because dreams only happen when you wake up and live.

To say yes
means to finally accept
the challenge
of going back
to that realm of pain and woes.

An affirmation
shall always mark
the start of another battle
where you win
only when you learn.

The simplest nod
will only give you
your ticket back
to the warfare of emotions
where you might only lose.

To say yes
means that you accept
risking over again
because you know
that it’s worth it. 

Yes.

Take my heart with you
and never let it drop.
Take good care of it
to you just let it fall.

I wanted to write you a letter
but then, I know
that my words
will only float
into nothingness
the way my heart did
when it fell for you.

I stopped at the verge of
writing a letter for you
because I know
that no matter what I say
and no matter how I say it
how I pour all my longings
for you to notice me
nothing will pay.

I kept my pen and paper
just when I was about to write
my letter for you
for you will only turn my sentiments
into a handful of ashes
the way my passion
burned for nothing. 

I am writing a letter
for somebody else.