POEM 15: Namamatay Rin Pala Ang Kaluluwa

Kapag tangan ka’t pumapasok ang init ng araw

at palihim na dumadampi sa maputla mong balat,

Kapag inilapag ka’t binigyan ng pira-pirasong krisantemo

at marahang hinaplos ang maamo mong mukha,

Kapag nasilayan mo ang paglipad ng mga puting lobo

at ang kagyat nilang peregrino sa himpapawid,

Kapag bumukas na ang bunganga ng lupa

at taimtim kang tinitigan ng lahat habang namamaalam,

Kapag ibinababa ka na sa iyong huling hantungan

at ang pala’t mga hagulgol lamang ang mariing mauulinigan,

Tirik ang araw ngunit malamig ang iyong bangkay, saka mo maririnig,

“Mahal kita ngunit wala ka na,” kaya’t malalagutan ka muli ng hininga.

Written 24th April, 2020.

Poem copyright © 2020 by Peter Ryuken B. Hermosura, “Namamatay Rin Pala Ang Kaluluwa”

Author's Annotations

Namamatay Rin Pala ang Kaluluwa is the only Filipino poem I wrote in 2020. I wrote this near the second month of the pandemic era, during which everyone was bored and reflecting inwards. While reading a book, I thought of making a poem about how a dead soul can still see the mourners weep over his body, which became the centerpiece of this poem. This gained minimal traction among my relatively small Twitter following when I posted it in the same year.