There is no Emerald City waiting for me
at the end of this grey road I am climbing.
I have no expectations getting there, only to see the sun
coming down. There was a time when everything here
was green. Now there is only the finality of these roads
binding the hills and these hollow street signs
echoing the name of mountains.
Here stands Mt. Mayon, up there rises Mt. Apo.
No houses have been built yet, but
in the stretching shadows, I could already picture
those white walls, those rooftops with satellite dishes,
and those sleek cars, coming up and down.
And I see myself someday, riding a pedicab downtown,
looking up at these hills, still remembering.
At the top, the last glow of the day fills the empty chapel.
Couples and runners, breathless and sweating, stop for photos.
I sit in the grass, wind whipping at my face,
watching the sky as it holds on to the fading light.
DOMAR BATUCAN RECOPELACION lives in Matanao, Davao del Sur. His works have been featured in Dagmay and Mountain Beacon, and will soon appear in PUSO(K): Antolohiya ng mga Akdang Erotika.
madcaplitmag 