By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo

 

TODAY, I fell on the pavement facedown. I thought my face was broken because I was bleeding on the face, and tasted blood inside my mouth. Afraid that I would pass out, I immediately stood up with the help of strangers who took a cab for me to go to the UP Infirmary (UP Diliman Health Service) beside the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice, a landmark Catholic chapel on the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman campus.

Earlier, my sister and I were talking about the status of the torn ligament of our niece, Jam, that was scheduled for operation. To find out for sure, I decided to ask her out for pizza at Nomu – Tea and Coffee Philippines, a block away from the Philpost, where I was scheduled to pay for my annual fees and to send via sea mail, two books I wrote. These books were packed several months ago, during the pandemic, for a friend who requested them.

As soon as I paid for the pizza, I asked Jam to wait for it to cook for thirty minutes, while I finish my errands at Philpost. I was done very quickly and walked back, but did not notice a small canister on the street, which rolled as I stepped on it. I tried to recover my balance, but it was too late, the next thing I knew was I was flat on the ground, with all the books and copies of Sunday Punch newspaper scattered around me. My favorite eyeglasses broke as it slipped from my hands.

I called my niece, who can barely walk, that I was in an accident. Then, I called my sister, Emma, who quickly drove to the infirmary. I could still taste blood, and spitting it continuously, until I was given iced water to gargle with. It stopped, just as my sister arrived, gasping at the sight of my swollen, bloodied face.

Leaving the hospital, I thanked God for the gift of life. I was alive, with no broken skull. It is my lucky Thursday, 11th of August 2022. The sunflowers at the University Avenue were all in full bloom, celebrating life, following the path of the sun.

 

Rooms

There is room in the heart to dance

as much as a room for its loneliness

a room, too, to make whole

its own brokenness

 

The gift of life

I honor you, a gift from the divine

good or bad, for my own joy

pain and illumination

to discern, capitulate

to navigate in a universe

where caring is rare

and apathy rules

knowing that at this time

somewhere, a balance exists

and that love abounds

somehow

in the alternating waves

of malevolence

benevolence

the undefined circles

and the in-betweens

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