By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo

 

THE dawn is my constant friend. Like clockwork, it wakes me up at 4:00 a.m., making me witness the quiet blending of light and darkness in the sky, the slow disappearance of stars before my eyes, making me feel the soft caress of the passing breeze, and the warmth of the moonbeams. The moon kisses all the blooms in the garden, and in gratitude, they exude a mystic blend of sweet, subdued, elegant smells. One by one, I sniff, competing with the night insects, taking in the essences as deeply as I can, to where my imagination wanders to a place far beyond, across mountains and seas, to a place of magic.

I wonder if I had the capacity to fly, who among the nymphs in the woods would surprise me with mushrooms that turn into huge multi-colored clouds. I wonder if I knew how to deep-dive into the sea, if the mermaids will sing songs to coax a graceful dance from the anemones. I wonder if, during these magical flights, I will find the light, the same light in another being, who, like me, cruises in the darkness to reach another.

I love this life, and treasure it, more so at this time, when the earth cleanses itself of human folly, and recuperates from the disrespect. In its move towards equilibrium, so many have perished, including the innocent, and those who fervently loved, and shared their light in a dimming world.

Mario has always been a fervent lover. He was a lover of God. He was a lover of life. He was a source of light for so many. He loved Alma, his wife, with reverence. He expressed this in unequivocal terms, a moving prayer: “I love you, Nanay.”

That made me cry. So much love in one quick breath. Love, in whose purity, a beloved can stand on for as long as she lives. The only poetry she needs, a song she can always hear, in the silence of her grief.

 

MARIO

 

notes

like words, they hang in the air

in grief, they quiver

like balloons, they float away

slipping through spaces

towards unknown spaces

 

in the absence of space

the breath goes away

buried with the notes

buried with the words

forming roots in the soil

a song dancing through the dark

a soft glow, a beam from below

about to kiss, the Ultimate Light.

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