The brightest star coming to a trance,
The flesh of my being made its stance.
And suntanned bricked walls enhanced,
In my grime iris,
I see my reflection in the window.
Fossils above me pursue each other,
Indefinite bonds walk through fiber.
Beyond the glass window,
The pacing footsteps rumbled the pavement.
Eager steps to be in their solace,
Cerise lights till thirty seconds.
In seconds,
Sensation and composition collide.
The friction of atoms poured,
Fermented quill revealed its sword.
“Anak, ang mga bayarin.”
The reason I had to stay in this pit of wretched stench.
The reason vicious remarks dwell in my stems.
The reason I need to endure the dangling coins on my side.
The prices in my homeland ascended.
Telegram of papers with symbols weighs down my shoulders.
“Anak, ang tuition ng kapatid mo.”
I sat down.
My knees and forehead collide,
The arms of the clock reach for each other,
My walls are caving in as I watch them crumble.
To flee the barrier of goodbyes with relief—
To relinquish my nine-to-five,
I would betray the tears in the realm of rippling hands.
How dare I ponder such atrocity?
The touching fingertips of heaving sighs,
Will turn into silenced cries.
As my eyes follow the end of the ink,
Inarticulate sounds escaped from my lips,
“Anak, kaya mo pa ba?” F
