I was a dreamer
you, a wanderer — you left
                 while I was asleep

hey kid, listen — don't
leave the womb, don't open your
eyes — they'll make you cry

I can't tell him
he's beautiful
— because then
       he'll know
         why
           he's beautiful
             to me

searching for something
or someone, through train windows
that's when I was found

made of soft mornings
humid noons, quiet evenings —
I dream of summer

it started raining
so I put on my raincoat
and the sun said, SIKED!

how long have I been
living a stranger to my
very own longing?

if I don't know what
I want, do I even know
who I really am?

quickly does the road
get stained by the rain that fell
fast from somewhere else

what does it mean when
the time they used to give free—
ly, we beg for now?

I thought I needed
you — for me to be happy —
turns out I only
needed you to be happy —
no matter where that leaves me

the night — swift and loud
crying of the long day's sun
about the full moon

someone's calling me
I look around thinking — did
I forgot to pay?

kung pagod ka na
'di kailangang umalis
— magpahinga ka

don't ask me to stop
we've been loving, and hurting
so long, it's the same

endless summer day
hoping by the end of it
you'll come home to me

sarcasm demands
shared intimate history
for it to make sense

if you don't believe
in love at first sight then how
about now, baby

remember, he who
turned the light on had to look
for it in the dark

stop me — stop what we're
doing just so I can get
on my knees to plead
                                      (don't)

I saw you walk in—
to this place like an ocean
wave — reclaiming land
                                            (I'm the land)

of GRAVITATION —
I want you near just as much
as you want me close

I have yet
to understand
what it's like
to have
had touched
and tasted fire —
raging

to have
had melted
from a warmth
given off
by a source
other than
my own

and to have
been molded
into the image
and likeness
of a space
I didn't
create

I have yet
to gain
the CONFIDENCE
to cast fire
that comes with
having had
tasted you

the cold wind whispers
there's nothing left for you here
so I struck a match

talking in the dark
speaking only with our hands
I found warmth and light

they say it's all in
my head — why do I feel it
in my LIMBS and CHEST

take me by the hand —
that is how I'll know for sure
that I still exist

having a blacksmith
for a father always set
the house on fire — some
children get tempered like steel —
some get brittle like charcoal

no fortune teller
could tell how fortunate I
am to have you near

slow mornings are for
taking his time to hold me
like a lazy cat

no one told me that
aching for someone, for love
would be this painful

this feels like a long
ride where everyone got off —
and then it's just me

you know you've got it
bad when you check your watch and
what was 10 is 2

as long as the sea
ends up on top of me — claimed
inevitably

when people feel trapped
sometimes they're the prisoner
sometimes they're the cell

you came to take your
stuff — you can take everything
just take me with you

it will all make sense
you can't tell that to someone
who is hurting NOW‎

this crowded room is
a battlefield where we take
turns stealing glances

right hand seeks the lamp
left arm — numb with you in it
I wake up alone

can't tell if it's the
cold air — or disengagement
that makes mornings hard

microgravity
behold, this astronaut's set
to find V⊙YAGER

dough in the oven
and a lover with their past
— these things won't rise if
you keep opening it up
digging it, calling them out

I hear rain coming
like heavy footfalls of my
favorite person

you, who keep singing
a song after leaving the
room — coming back and
picking up where you left off —
like you never even left

sleep came with a dream
heard a kid's laughter — wondered
was it mine, or my

you make sense — like a
warm mug of matcha latte
on a rainy day
                      門

it started with his
voice — deep — then it was his eyes
when he smiled — honest

silence, your silence
is not a void — it is a
warmth I come home to

the earth was a wide
and blank canvas — now you're my
FAVORITE COLOR