Soul Friends

By Virginia Jamin Pasalo

 

POETRY brought Rosa Maria Magno and I on Facebook, or shall I say, pain? We liked each other’s poems, and most of our poems were about pain, passion and death. Our poems were coming from the same source, drops of rain that makes a splash, sometimes gentle and violent, that collects itself in a spring, where healing is possible for our own pain, and where our pain also heals others, before we become rivers, flowing to where a stronger momentum transforms our being.

I thought that when I will finally meet Rosa in the flesh, I would recognize the bond instantly, like atoms coming together, forming new compounds. I thought we had time to gestate the friendship, from the poetry we shared, and from our “Urduja-ness”, a peculiar taste of character and strength emanating from our Pangasinan heritage rising from the salt of the sea. It was not to be. To “enflesh” Rosa is not as important as having touched her ethereal existence, it is enough that my heart recognizes, my heart knows.

Rosa posted about her own physical pain before noon on January 18, in “Waiting”, a poem she composed on January 9, 2016:

 

WAITING

The pain is solid as undigested
Food, but hollow as the laughter
Masking the ache of flesh and spirit.

The pain paves the road to heaven or hell;
Which way, one can’t really tell.
Yet, surely, oh, heavier becomes the load.

Now, I must choose between acceptance
Or denial of impending disappearance
Into oblivion, or a lull into dreamless sleep,

Or some other tried and tireless
Cliche for that inevitable end to life’s
Journey. Or tour. Or trip.

There is another pain that she carried, a much deeper pain, which shouts like an open wound, in her poems. It is a pain that strings itself like the “cadena de amor”, a coral vine that spreads itself to cover every conceivable space where it crawls, regarded as an invasive weed by some, as a symbol of undying love by others, and as a medical remedy for diabetes to herbalists like my grandfather, Laki Ilot.

Rosa turned to poetry to heal this pain. In a message dated October 27, she said, “Hi, Virginia, I have been hibernating in my getaway hole for a while. Waiting to be healed. I am okay now. I was able to write a few verses there. Part of the healing, I guess.”

“Esel Ka Pa”, Rosa’s last post on the PHCC FB page was dated January 18 at 2:26pm, a poem she wrote on October 18, 2015.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PLEASE SPEAK (translated by VJ Pasalo)

It cuts deeply,
your sharp tongue
but it is more painful
if not even a word
is spoken

even just a few words
speak now, because
a muted love
or a muted anger
is agony I cannot stand

(For your comments and reactions, please email to: punch.sunday@gmail.com)

 

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