Death, Thy Servant, is at her Door

The last thread of breath
Escapes from her lifeless lips
.
.
.
Then the darkness sweeps…
… the last flicker of light in her blurring eyes
… the sound of silence on her fastened lips
… the acrid taste on her tongue that dwells for years
… the last blow of kiss of humid air on her cheeks

(There comes the sound of nothingness)
.
.
.

Then…
A LOUD BANG!...

(her statue collapsed
smashed into dust
carried by the tender wind)

-she-
becomes a part of the air they breathe


(“Death, thy servant, is at my door. He has crossed the unknown sea and brought thy call to my home…He will go back with his errand done, leaving a dark shadow on my morning, and in my desolate home only my forlorn self will remain as my last offering to thee…”
-Tagore, from Gitanjali)

Rear-View Mirror

... and everything is coming back to me: PNU, Normal Hell (ehem! Hall), LSC, CLLL, catwalk, BSE English, IV-11, French class, Monsieur James, Mademoiselle Gaelle, bunny holding a cookie in the moon, Reading Society, ‘bloody’, Vincent Van Gogh, Starry, Starry Nights, Vincent – Don Mclean, Sonnet 116, CTL (hatred… more hatred… forget everything)

… LET, MHCS, Ma’am Damples, Hezekiah room, GBC (enlightenment), English Department, mommies and singles, Elaine, Spongebob Squarepants, Patrick Starfish, Anakin, Tuldok (a.k.a Duke), Journalism Club, Ma’am Arlene, Sway, Phantom of the Opera, Memoirs of Geisha, Jungle Pen (a.k.a Candle Pen), hipon, manggang hilaw, bagoong, Shekinah’s Anniversary, Glorietta, Pizza Hut, bell, wasabi peas, MRT, Guadalupe Station (5 phases to acceptance: 1st: denial, 2nd: anger, 3rd: bargaining, 4th: depression, 5th: acceptance – but in every phase, there is always HOPE), Remedial Reading Program, summer classes, biometric, TOS, LOI, warehouse, Sterling, Country Style, Pancake House, granny goose, 4:00 PM, ACELT, Professor Marian, sure (high pitch), Chinese New Year, Spring Concert, ‘TeJheng, 8th April 2006, Laundromat, resignation letter (>end<)

Remembering the past is like driving your car very fast and looking at the rear-view mirror. You can see the area behind the vehicle through the back window. You can have a glimpse of where you have been to and all the things that you have passed through yet you cannot stop and go back because the car must continue to run forward for you to reach the final stop. (>end<)

... and I looked again at my rear-view mirror: passport, visa, telephone calls, my 23rd birthday, October 3, 2007, Emirates Airlines, apple juice, red wine, Panadol, Toni Gonzaga’s movie: ‘You Got Me’, Dubai, Al Madar Engineering, Al Lootah Company, Gulf Newspaper, RTA buses, Al Rais Travel, conference room, business development office, work… work… work… (then I keep driving and looking at my rear-view mirror.)