Healing in Lapayan

I yield my anger to water

Bequeath my fear to stones --

On this site may I be lifted

By grace of morning light;

Here, where the massacre took place.

Let me walk carefully, respectfully

Among graves of charred memory,

Listen to pain blossom in the rubble;

Blood indelible mark the trail.

Allow me to perform my humid duty

Of braiding body to the mind: Unveil

The tension, reveal the sleepless wound

Breath by breath from deep navel.

Let me walk the beast out of the shade,

Guide it slowly with serpent flame;

Together we shall roam a wilderness

Uncharted, a field of betrayed intentions.

We shall leap and glide with closed eyes,

Feel the hidden labyrinth, the equator within

Butterflies -- electric at our fingertips;

It’s alright to cry, to lean on innocent sky.

Hold this moment etched to the bone,

A talisman, even refugees can bring home.

Watch the child quest for touch,

Surrender to a universe both warm and tender;

Those glazed eyes again will play,

Healing without forgetting

Till the next round of killings.

victor peñaranda
iligan city-lanao del norte
9 September 2008