GUMIL Metro Manila

Sonnet (09.12.07)

Ni Honor Blanco cabie

the verdant crown,* a witness to the best

and worst of bygone seasons, in that clime

some other stands had robbed it of my rhyme,

pulls jacket mine — now something checks my chest.

for years beneath its shade i shuffled feet,

at times unmindful of its reddish fruit –

i had ignored it, i was not a brute,

with other scapes my mind then was replete.

now once more as i walk beneath it, i

am getting pulled back by the species’ hand

whose gentle rustle lifts me up among

the clouds of yore that helped me touch the sky.

i couldn’t look away — i see its stand

imploring while i’m choked by a grieving song.

*the lone macopa tree inside the compound at 178 f.

 blumentritt street, san juan city.

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