Month: June 2021

No one else will tell Dad’s stories –

of carabaos fighting,

he, surviving

caught in between locked horns.

… a pot of rice

rolling down the hill,

cooked, caked

rice escaping,

Japanese soldiers laughing,

one life spared,

the tragicomedy

of war.

…trekking up

the mountains of Maasin

with a few worldly goods

and St. Teresa of Avila’s bust

wrapped in a cloth.

No one else will tell Dad’s stories

Unless I do

to a new generation of survivors

in this fighting, divided world.

I have to tell Dad’s stories!

They are Dad’s whispers

of hope.