Along the walk to the Institute
The Indian cork tree begins its silent shift.
White, five-pointed stars rest on the pavement,
not fallen, but arranged,
as if the long night had paused here
to remember itself.
Each blossom is a cool reprieve
rising through the warm morning.
They ease your steps, inviting you
to move more slowly,
to listen for the almost-sound
of petals letting go of the air.
By the time you reach the lobby
a few small stars remain with you,
clinging to your shoes,
a soft reminder that scholarship begins
in moments like this,
in attending to what the world lays down quietly
before your moving feet.
Hope Sabanpan Yu
Hope Sabanpan Yu is a poet, essayist and fictionist. She is currently the director of the University of San Carlos Cebuano Studies
Center and the chair of the Division of the Humanities of the National Research Council of the Philippines.
