He spoke softly
Hat adorning head
Hair flecked gray the
Din of memory
He sat with two
Other veteranos whose
Voices creaked open
The whisper of hollow bone
The blinking point
Of bayonet seen in
Glints of grass
Thru eyes that cannot sleep
From ground to mouth
The veterano said as he spoke
Of crickets plucked from
Ground to conquer
Hunger’s deafening drone
He spoke of rice rations
The size of golf balls,
Sitting hard in the stomach
And drinking from a cup
Filled by rivers of the dead
The veterano spoke
Of a woman who entrusted
Him to give a box of food
To her son
Do you know my
Son? She asked
He took the food
From the box and gave it
To his father and their
Starving companions
Many dreams later
He tells the psychiatrist
That he didn’t do good
At that moment
That the fullness
Of guilt has sat in
A pit of moon
Passing before his eyes
Veterano with a girl’s
Cries in the sunrise burn
Of stomach
Never to forget
Veterano with carabao eyes
Dripping secrets into
The earth
Secrets of bones
Secrets of soil
Secrets of blood
Secrets of flowers
Secrets of nanays
Secrets of tatays
Secrets of lolas
Secrets of lolos
Secrets of secrets hidden deep
Speak veterano
Across water
Across sun
Across stars
Across silence
Thank you
For eyes that
Speak rivers
For eyes that
Melt sky
For eyes that pause
Between
Time
Thank
you