LAMENT (with first line from Pablo Neruda)

Under a flowering moon, beloved, may I never
see the vastness of palay fields
brilliant and verdant
blue sky meets blue water far into distant universes
a fool’s gold

Under a flowering moon, beloved, may I never
hear the blades of grass sway
the monotonous plunge of hands splash water during harvest

Under a flowering moon, beloved, may I never
taste the air weighted by yesterday’s monsoon
dense
bitter-sweet: I’ll choke

Under a flowering moon, beloved, may I never
smell drenched bamboo
sun-dried mud
the country-side littered with carabao turd

Under a flowering moon, beloved, may I never
feel the cool, wet earth beneath my bare soles and heels
fill in the arches of my feet
as I traipse restless over beams of dirt

Under a flowering moon, beloved,
let the darkness be the prelude to my remembrance of you,
land of my birth.