My skin,
you have burned.
Scars,
you have left.
So beautiful,
they became constellations.
Little things
My skin,
you have burned.
Scars,
you have left.
So beautiful,
they became constellations.
Our pre-school yearbook is a narrative of how our story began. Our high school yearbook can attest to how much we have changed. But stories need not always be inscribed in pages. Memories need not always be in photos.
Change, growth, maturity – they actually came after sheets were bound.
I used to run away from you every time. I even left my bento just because you were headed my way at the cafeteria one afternoon. I used to give you hundreds of lame excuses why it is impossible for us to have lunch together. I rejected thousands of your calls, I even had my sister pick up my phone instead.
But guess what? I voted you for the University Student Council even though you were among the yellows. Perhaps, that’s the sweetest I could do.
Ten years back, I had a journal reminiscent of the Emerald City. It had a shiny green cover while pages were stained with glittery green words. They were all the girlish giggle type of entries but they shyly shone for you.
I was a stranger whom you called from a distance with a song. I was a waif seeking for a refuge and found one where your heart also resides.
I’ve heard you left the garden we have initially called home.
You didn’t even had the chance to immortalize me in paper and charcoal, but I’ll always remember your song.
You’re one of the souls I’ve written the longest love letters to. I’ll mail them to heaven, or maybe I’ll bring them to you when I reach that place.
I bet it will take a very long while before I see you again. I miss you so bad.
Remember our words after our songs at the karaoke one February night? It was a sad yet comforting exchange. Your words were raindrops falling into my old rotten well of words. You didn’t cry. It wasn’t necessary. Your words bled for you.
Tables have been turned. Last year was my year, this year is yours. Mine has become the raindrops, yours has become the well.
You’re one of the men I believe I am required to write a long letter to. But you’re tired of reading too much stuff I’d rather save you one later.
That makes this note-writing project perfect for you. I wouldn’t write you long and winding sentences. I wouldn’t dedicate you music-like compositions. I wouldn’t string together beads of words for you.
Just that, you probably know what I ought to say. You never read my mind, you listen to my heartbeat instead. And this: Ours will always be one of my favorite friendships.
I remember you as one of the people who worried too much about me going some place else for college. You used to warn me of the climate and scares of the city. You told me I was a stubborn kid for pushing through.
You used to call me at exactly twelve noon every midweek. But gradually, they declined, until I never get to talk to you again.
Nobody knows where you are now.