Look Ma, I'm a Writer!

There is
a reason

blowing out your first birthday candle;

why I drag myself
out of bed before sunrise
so I can drive you
to your first day of school;

why I pay double for tickets
despite being blind in one eye
so I can watch you enjoy
your first animated 3D movie.

I do these things
so that twenty years from now,
when you look back
in fond nostalgia
at the memories of your childhood,

I will be in them.


*Conceived 8 Jun 2011

I considered myself
a mountain of a man,
towering a head and a shoulder
above everyone else.
My gigantic build
was enhanced by
my arrogance,
which made people tremble
at the sight of me,
which in turn made me think that
I was invincible.

That is,
until I entered
Your House.

I had no need to crouch
(as I am used to)
while entering your doorway,
for even with my arms outstretched,
my fingers could not touch the top of the arch.
Inside, it seemed
that Your halls were made for giants,
for the ceiling stretched to such a height
that could kill a man when dropped from it.
And the music,
oh the music!
pounding, incessant,
seemingly discordant notes
which might have been music
to giant ears,
but which to me
sounded like music
inside the head of a madman.

And then I fell to my knees
and wept
like a child
who lost all his candy
to a bully.
I have been reduced
to sniveling snot
and I got up
and ran away from there
fast as I could,
even before having
laid my eyes
on You.


*Manila Cathedral, May 2011