These Memories


Surigao, 30 years ago:

I remember
sitting in the sun
watching birds fly by,

and nights
those lovely nights
filled with moonshine.

I remember
laughter and shrieks
tall tales told by uncles

Gargoyles hiding
in shadows of dense trees
and all the while in the background

the roar of the sea
the scent of the sea
hightide swallowing black rock

in black night.


Surigao, revisited:

Lonely houses
burnt out shells

absent faces
blanks on a sunshine wall

this place
for which I have no more names.

Surigao, living in my mind:

I hear music
the let's dance songs
of long ago, slap of wood

on the batalan.
And the maids dancing
and singing, and looking

with their shy eyes.

Gloss over what is no more
with the dream of what once was.