Mahal Ka Namin
we love you
It was so brief a
Meeting nothing told me
A first and last day
It was to be
Thanksgiving weekend it was
The memory of the care you gave
Abby will last
She was not feeling well that night my
daughter
Your touch and smile reassured her
she gave back a tease of laughter
Nothing I felt
It was a last handshake
Not like anything dealt
No crystal ball can presage
Curse the abduction!
The air turned blue on
Abby’s mother’s incursion
Angry words rarely spoken
Dark and in pain blindfolded eyes
Prayed your lips said goodbyes
To Abby “mahal na mahal kita”
And to all the ones you loved
Floors scrubbed bracketed shelvings
Fixed window shades walls painted
did touchings
Bathroom cleaned hooks attached
high and low
Knobs spit polished made all aglow
Squeaking door bathroom and other
doors
You to fix yes when you come back to
all you adore
4th Ave Union St Brooklyn NY City
Sunday last you were there with Abby
Sunday next the sun nowhere sky was
black gloomy
Softly we cried “Mahal na mahal ka namin Terry”
***
(c)NDR03/1999
Photo:ndr the sun a speck of light in the universe