Sunset Boulder

Random and I find

our landscape

a chore.

Every day we push

this sunset up a hill

then see it roll down.

Random knows.

She has joined

the sunset.

His Wawa, adding to

the weight of the grey

boulder of fading light.

I now know

why it was the colors

she feared.

Sunsets everywhere

in big cities

and small towns.

People in ventilators

tubes down their noses,

anticipating sunsets.

There are secret

sunsets, too, only

murderers witness.

This boulder heavy,

slippery, dead weight

of planets and stars.

Suddenly sunset

And then it is gone.

People sleep.

People wake up.

Everything forgotten

with a new day.

I taught Random

just push, and never forget

how many days may pass.

Random—he is a dog —

taught me

to sit. To keep still.

To wait

for the Master, mercifully,

to finally give me the treat.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nicolas Pichay
Nicolas Pichay

Nicolas Pichay is a poet, a playwright, and a lawyer. He has been inducted to the Carlos Palanca Hall of Fame (2007); Gawad Balagtas (2016); Hubert Humphrey Fellow at the Maxwell School for Public Administration (2016); S.E.A. Write Awardee (2023); and the University of the Philippines Outstanding Alumni for Culture and Theater (2024). 

JUST IN

More Stories