SAGGAYSAEK A NUMERUAN AMIN DAGITI BITUEN

I WILL COUNT THE STARS

Ilokano version of my poem,

I WILL COUNT THE STARS

although the rest of
my heartbeats
is lesser
than the twinkling
stars
if it’s your will for me
to number them before I could
touch your hand,
then I start tonight
and even under the leaf
of tomorrow’s
sunlight I will peek at any speck
of brightness
that hides like a needle
in a haystack.
why should I resist
if you’re the sole petal flaming
my life?
even when my eyes
will close eternally along with
the roots of some vines framing
my graveyard, still there
will be multitude of uncounted stars
left and that, though accepted,
is why I am crying now
and my tears are heavy rains
er0ding the valleys of my heart..
but don’t you know
that in the chest of every
numbered star,
there, I engraved boldly,
“I love you until here,
this never ending universe, Isabella…”?
the white clouds
caught and enlarged the shadow of
my words,
re-echoed poetically to the seas,
cities and immaculate forests..
if you’ll get up from bed
at dawn,
observe how
gentle are the fingers of the sun
touching the hand
of the grass;
if you still remember me, I
would have done the same way
and the dew clinging to
our bodies give lushness
to our souls until eternity..

wall

Patience faithfulness Love Sacrifice