Reflections on a Full Moon (For Kerima)

Pablo A. Tariman
By Pablo A. Tariman
painted red rose in the hands of a man on white background

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A glimpse of a full moon

On an early Thursday morning.

You look at the living room

And discover

A presence long gone.

And there is nothing

You can do.

Nevertheless

My daughter lives

In murals dedicated

To brave women of a Southern town.

My daughter lives

In postcards

Celebrating radical love.

My daughter’s spirit

Thrives in symposium

Analyzing and defining

Our perilous life and times.

She is gone

Now at peace

In the cemetery

Of an ancient town.

But her memory

Lives with me

The battles she fought

And the worthy causes

She espoused.

Acceptance  

Is recalling her last picture

Lifeless on a mountain trail.

It is a lesson

On courage and acceptance

Watching her body

Engulfed in flames

In a crematorium

One early evening

In the City of Smiles.

It doesn’t matter now

Because her spirit

Is so much bigger

Than the short life she led.

Full moon

Now a faint image

As sunrise beckons.

I take a walk

And buy a rose

On my way

To the nearby cemetery.

Pablo A. Tariman
Pablo A. Tariman
Pablo A. Tariman, 73, is the author of the book of poetry, Love, Life and Loss – Poems During the Pandemic, published by Music News and Features. Two of his poems are included in the anthology The Best Asian Poetry 2021, published by Kitaab Pubishing in Sinagpore. Hi poem, “The Woman on a Motorcycle” appears in the anthology, 100 Pink Poems para kay Leni. Tariman was born in Baras, Catanduanes, and has six grandchildren.

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