Conquering the Sand

In my restless mind
assemble shadows unfulfilled,
unfaded behind the curtains
of a memory of you;

I broom away the dusts
that stand between our years,
this solemn ground
your dreams have consumed;

The words you soak in tears
bespeckle within an envelop
that reached me beyond
an oceanful of sand;

So I dig into the heart
of courage you have sown
and keep that wondering youth
under the dancing mango tree;

At some point, I recover
a cadaver of visions
that was once shattered
by juvenile hysteria;

And sketch in the midst
of this dry mattress
a jamboree stolen away
by your fruits of vanity;

Now as you depart
the circuses of my mind,
like cotton candy you stand
toying with my innocence;

You speak only on behalf
of such distant warmth
and customs woven stale,
a tale strewn in secrecy;

Endearments yet unsung
drifted in humid air,
caught around a ring
that divided our souls;

Yet I refuse to sing
of barren nursery rhymes
which have dried out deep
inside your gilded luggage.

*First published in KAYOD: Sa Ngalan ni Rio Alma (Anthology #6: Poems on Workers), ed. Alexander de Juan, Philippines, 2010.