at the town’s public cemetery, I light
three candles to celebrate his life.
Their flames are tiny suns that flicker
against the dusk. His name on the wooden
cross is fading. When was my last visit here?
I look into the horizon unfurling like a worn
map of our journeys and there—our memories:
climbing mountains, feet on loose stones,
the wind pushing us upward, as if urging
us to conquer more. And, there—in the fields,
his hands moved like waves across the soil,
turning the earth into promises. We planted
dreams in furrows, corns sprouting like green
prayers reaching for the sky. The air is thick
with the scent of candles yet my heart breathes
the smell of his sweat and hears his laughter.
Again, I look at the cross. The words we carved
in grief are no longer clear. But even if his name
fades, he remains in the ridges of the earth,
guiding our hands through the fields.
And amid the rustle of the leaves,
I hear him singing his favorite song to me.
Raul G. Moldez
Raul G. Moldez writes from Cagayan de Oro, where he has worked with the city government for three decades. Known for his contributions to regional literature, he attended the Iligan National Writers Workshop (1997), the University of the Philippines National Writers Workshop (2000, 2014), the UP VisMin Panagsugat Creative Writing Workshop (2004), and the IYAS La Salle National Writers Workshop (2025). He was published in various national and international journals and magazines, and won awards in various writing competitions for his fiction and poetry. He has two collections of poetry, A Day in a Poet’s Life and Other Poems, and Mga Taho Gikan sa Akong Uniberso.
