SUDDENLY, IT IS EVENING*

SUDDENLY, IT IS EVENING

the room is wide
this morning
as wide as your pain
somewhere in a corner
of remembered remembering
where were you
when the sea
was bereft of broken beer bottles
and crumpled tin cans?
last night the rainbow jukebox
blared your song
while the smoke-filled bar
echoed with drunken laughter
and your epilogue
of wasted years.
it should have been this way--
no, no, no, it could have been that way

( the last stanza consists of 15 lines, the last of which echoes the title)
....
....
....
....
....
....
and suddenly, it is evening

photo shots in Singapore*/included in the Ilokano-English anthology, "Umayka Manen, Ganggannaet/Come Agains, Stranger", launched in the 11th Nakem International Conference at the Pangil Beach Resort, Currimao, Ilocos Norte, Philippines, May 23-25, 2016.