You could be all for us, the all
Of heaven and earth and
That joy in between, the one you
Have when you smell the roses,
The one that fills your lungs
With the power of the salty breeze.
In this late light, I see you
From the clear window of my soul.
You sing a lullabye to Nasudi the last child
Of our separateness, another sign
Of all the all-color hopes we claim
As we light in ritual the candles
On the garden I had tended
In the present perfect tenses
Of love and memory I left behind.
I remember the coconut tree
I planted with lines of some poems
I wrote for Ayi and Camille some years
Ago when the earth on our home was red
And our dreams were brilliant blues,
The blues of the vast horizon giving us
Clues to singular self-sacrifice and salvation.
The tree has given us luck,
Lots of them, with children giving us
The rhythm of the hills savoring
The swaying of its lush leaves.
The nuts are still golden, like
Our prayers and promises,
The ones that we hold dear
And that we rewrite each year?
I try to drink from the cup
Of our coming together soon.
I try to live from the psalmic songs
Of our daily red redemption.
I know: from afar, beyond
The million moons on the loving land,
Faithful vessel to our vision,
I come closer. closer to getting hold
Of you each second, every second.
Aurelio S. Agcaoili
Torrance, CA, USA
Nov. 10, 2004
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