Altar

On these steps I lay
Thinking 'bout your face
I feel it
Draw your curtains close
Against this cold

Just moments ago
We were dancing in
The twilight
Rising with the sun
Our souls unfold

In time you could be
All that I would know
My dreams are waking
And I'm loosing hold
Who's to say I'm coming round to you?


Upon these knees I've fallen
I've prayed for so long,
The thought of you
It's feeding this fire inside.
Won't you descend and save me
With the grace of your song,
Upon this altar I'm kneeling
In search of a sign.


Candles burn true
My lies they are these shadows hiding
From my eyes
From my life

In search of a truth
I look upon each altar I pass
From dreams I run
In search of you.


Upon these knees I've fallen
I've prayed for so long,
Your touch I feel it feeding
This fire inside.
Won't you descend and save me
With the grace of your song,
Upon your altar I'm kneeling
I'm waiting for your sign.

Disclosure

Tonight is a night unlike many I’ve had. It is rare, for I find myself wanting to write and rhyme but blessed with far more cords than I can weave. As if a whisper from the moon had smoothed its way past the clouds, my heart is cooled by reality yet warmed by its sudden recollections.

In the night sky lie my answers. This night sky, this full moon is to blame for a great many things that have chanced me so far. Aren’t you, my old friend?

I have had the pleasure of three great loves in my life so far: the stars, the moon and the clouds. Of course, I am constantly invited and ticked by the winds, with whom I gratefully converse and share my wisdom, but I don't fancy them. Allow me now, to share with you these precious pieces of my heart.

O' Stars, celestial but unreachable; glorious in your heavenly throne, I think you exotic. Because I can never have you, I think our distance fated and made all the more charming by your winking smiles. Such vivid romanticism you offer me.

Dearest moon, for so long, so many have loved your presence. I too was not spared your omnipresence; your silver gown brought my senses to their knees and inspired these reckless poets to adorn you with mysticisms as witness to your beauty. My kingdom’s was fragile, but I was too proud to think otherwise.

Lovely clouds; oh, how limitless you seem – shapeless and giving, urging myths of your own from the many scattered souls that you shower. You are earth-bound; though my floating soul craves for moon and star, you inspire its youthful imagination as you exist seamlessly with gold and silver, day and night. You were always there, after the moon was gone.

“I miss you all, oh so very much.” I think, making love to this night scene with my eyes. “You are all so beautiful,” I admitted, “and deserve more than the pathetic private worship of this madman who burns his words the way he does himself.”

This cauldron of ink, silver, diamond and silk returns my stares; it offers me silence, and echoes of my desperation. I find myself wondering again why I still feel as if nothing could anchor my sleepless soul, as if I once had everything, but now can only want everything.

No matter my disposition, my loves have always lived and changed with the night sky on their own decision. I bid goodnight to them: to the stars, for whom I will always smile and wonder, but know in secret that I may never be with, if I may only dream. The moon, who still curls my lips with her silver fingers, and make me sigh because I once dreamt.

And of course, and perhaps most lovingly, to the clouds for whom I now give all that’s left of my love, gingerly exploring her silken broadways in search for her cheerful and light kisses. With the clouds, the winds are common-folk, and oh, do they love to dance and cheer. They make me smile, even if only for a while.

“I guess it makes sense to say this here then,” I smiled to myself.

“I love you, you know I do.”

Finally.

Woman

What is it
About the shape of a lady
That whispers
To me a quiet story
Of love, of fear
Of dreams and fragility

What is it
About the geography
Of a woman
That sings
A bittersweet melody,
A gentle garmet
That reins in any stallion


(Incomplete, but this poem came to my mind some time ago while I wandered the streets of Manila. I'm sure I can do a better job, but I just liked the way this half-baked fantasy waylaid my thoughts.)

Before Sleep Took Me Under

When my mind is drugged
When my eyes are haunted
By ghosts
And dreams departed,

Through nostalgia thick
I bargain soul and will
For something other
Than thoughts of you.

You are there,
But I can't care,
For nothing else
Cos I want you here.

Adrift on melancholy
A sigh heavy with old love,
These ghosts
Still test my worth.

In light I walk
In darkness I sleep
When will you
Leave my jaded lips?

Unbelievale

Could it be
That I'm finally free,
Given the chance
Again to dance
In the sunshine
That you have made mine?

Slowly these vines
That grew my lines,
Stopped to creep
And went to sleep.

Thus I woke
In the golden yoke
Of shunshine and moonlight
And the comforting sight
Of your smile
And our idle sighs.

Gifts

Said a gentleman,
To a lady fair
‘In and with tradition
I bring thee grandé fare.’

‘From the Orient Pearl
I bring forth spices
I bring forth jewels
For m’lady’s devices.

Perhaps most of all
I bring thee wisdom
No stories tall
Nor thoughts random

What is happiness
But a bad memory,
In times of forgetfulness
We know that pain is temporary.’

Evolution

Beauty begets beauty
Your painted reality
Versus my wounded dignity

How your words evolve
Slow but with resolve

From yesterday’s gloom
To today’s bloom
Your light still fills my room

Metro Mayhem

This modern shack
This urban sprawl
This is Manila
Sunset, nightlife and all.

On a pushcart
One sells art
On another
Lies a family in parts.

Someone’s daughter
Cradling her baby sister
By the roadside
Invisible to passers.

Someone’s mother
Busy touting flowers
To highway pilots
Who don’t seem to bother.

Someone’s brother
Hunched like a scholar
Atop his trash bag chair
A book he devours.

In my clothes I feel rich
In my dignity I feel sick
I can’t think
When she came to me
Palm open
And a look so deep
I felt a kick

She had long ago learnt
Not to yearn
But to live
And wait her turn

A Hot Night On the Cold Sidewalk

Have you slept
Under the stars?
Would you sleep
Unafraid on grass
Under a moon
A tungsten bloom.
Could you dream alone
Stay warm in a cupboard dome.
Could you do without a home?
Could you even live without your phone?

Manila!

In one piece,
Hotel room finally at ease.
To the mambo of MTV,
A mirror of her sister [V].
Diverse and divided,
Night lights excite a soul, uninvited.
Foreign.