While waiting for year’s end

The midnight snack prepared and waiting for the family to come home after mass at our housing village, I had time browsing through poems written by kin and friends, and found them good bread for the journey through 2014.

Below is my sister-in-law’s poem, “Happiness, in the Balance.”

Happiness, in the Balance

By Rowena Tiempo Torrevillas

Mid-afternoon, my old watch stopped,


Long autumn and

the flame maple leaves still


Mostly green; ginkgo gold,

that most ancient


Of trees, leaves strewn prodigally.

Ah, golden

Light, mother and daughter

and I all in one house,


Reading or writing in leaf-dappled rooms:


Daughter’s childhood bedroom turned

Into a study; the shadows

of leaves echoing

My childhood — a study

that became my bedroom,

Later, my own baby’s crib

in sunshine.  Circle on,

Shadow of light, bare boles, blue


Skies of now, yesterday, always, never…

The leaf will never leave

the branch, the pages

Turn, words on mere paper stir,

hold forever.

My educator friend, and former dean of the UP College of Education, Lily Rosqueta-Rosales, gave me a lovely Christmas present â€” a book of poems she has compiled  over the years as a gift for her 14 grandchildren. The poems, she writes in the foreword of the collection entitled â€œSunlight and Raindrops,” are “expressions of my heart, of my sentiments and emotions, and are an outreaching of my thoughts and soul. They represent my consciousness of the past — a memorial to God’s creations, the immaterial nature of man, loves lost and gained, pedagogy, and guidance.”

The first poem, “Stay Away,” was written in Los Baños in 1948, and was first printed under the pen name Aling Isang. She must have tried to fend off the romantic gestures of a suitor, who years later became her loving husband. “Whisper Through  the Wind” was written in Colorado in 1959, and “It’s Nature’s Way” is of recent vintage.

Stay Away

By Lily Rosqueta -Rosales

I feel the pulse

Of the beating of your heart

I hear your whisper

Of overflowing love.

But the day is too young

Light and darkness will soon come

Yes, stay away at a distance

Give reason many a chance.

In the dawn of our youth

There’s still more of the thought

Yes, stay away from me

I’m so young, you see.

Whisper Through the Wind

By Lily Rosqueta-Rosales

When I behold those daffodils

Dancing yellow with the breeze

My eyes gaze far into the hills

Where stately stand a thousand trees.

Spring has come again

Tapping at my window pane

I dream, I think of you

But this, you do not know.

Dear Daffodils, yonder stately trees

If you can feel my secret heart

Look for him, my love to bring

Send my whisper through the wind.

It’s Nature’s way

By Lily Rosqueta-Rosales

I hear the sound of raindrops

Then see them falling on the bend

They’ll  soon bathe the wilting crops

In that little backyard garden.

I look out far from my window

Aware of sunlight through the trees

I see the majesty of a rainbow

As birds fly by, chirping in bliss.

It’s nature’s way, raindrops,

sunlight, rainbow

Tears, smiles, then

promises of tomorrow

Wait in patience, the days will bring

The blessings of love

to you, my King.

The following poem by Mary L. Fraser,  was printed in Weavings, a journal of the Christian Spiritual Life, Volume XXV, Number 1.

The Shepherd Speaks

By Mary L. Fraser

You are the sleeping, newly,

Fresh, your breath a gentle sigh

I find you after a journey

So long, long with remarkable stars

And midnight hymns.

Angels descending with Angels

Their voices, stillness, sing joy.

The walk here broke my feet

and my heart,

Snapped the traps that tied me to a life

I was no longer living,

That did not hold me, freed me

From the relentless, empty question

Of whether there was a You,

And so, whether there was a me.

How can we live without

someone seeing us?

No, it is not possible. My eyes are wide,

And your gaze, infinite.

TONIGHT I find home,

in this scent of wild

Arrivals: precious you,

the mother and father,

The obliging animals, the friend

who came with me,

Bundled against the wooden trough

Watching you breathe, soft, ordinary.

In this finding, this

unexpected advent, I am

Over-awed – overflowing –

ever-loved and

Committed to you, now born with you.

While I do not appear again

in your story,

I am the beginning of everyone’s story

Who loves you, who seeks you,

who finds you.

I am the friend of your mother,

The witness of your father,

The first voice of the widening circle.

I am the shepherd who left his flocks

In the deepest night, for one

remarkable quest,

Chosen for an extraordinary task,

To see you, to be seen,

Invited to know how your breath

Lifts quietly from your chest

Holding all the world,

holding all my world.

Your breath, like my breath,

Your breath, God’s breath,

Swaddling me with ancient hope,

That I carry with me from the barn

Into fields of sweet loam,

Into the heart of the seeker,

Into the mind of one sought.

The Internet and mobile phone have  brought us many messages and poems about welcoming a new, brighter, more prosperous New Year. A friend emailed me this forwarded poem by Charles L. H. Wagner that tells us to not dwell on our past mistakes, and to go forward, with bold hearts.

Let’s Forget

Charles H. L. Wagner

Let’s forget the many troubles

That the year now gone has brought;

Let’s forget its pain and sorrow;

Let’s forget our burdened lot;

Let new hope and courage cheer us;

Sunshine always follows rain;

There’s a challenge in the Future;

Men are needed now, again!

Let’s forget deflated values;

Money is no gauge of souls;

Let’s forget restricted markets;

Profit lies in higher goals;

Serve in love some weaker brother;

There’s so many need your smile;

Make the whole year bright for others,

Then your life will be worthwhile.

Let’s forget distrust and hatred;

War from fear is oft aborning;

Let’s forget our narrow bondings;

Work for peace and greet its dawning;

Let’s forget the self that’s held us

In our petty, cabined state;

Let us meet our challenge boldly

And in meeting it be great.

Have a Great New Year!

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