THE FACEBOOK LOVER, SHE

when in the old hometown years later
he found her across the pages of quotations,
sayings, biblical passages, what-i-did-today
diaries, trivialities, videos.

quote without mercy, the needle went into
my flesh, into my vein, pounding,
pounding my brain like hell unquote.


what to make of her in the 1993 photograph,
she with her long tresses and yellow-green dress?

she was a promise of beauty, a love song
sung by a frail woman, a zsa zsa padilla look-alike
remembering her childhood

Marga with Igorot basket of marapait

pain in a hospital that reeked of bedbugs,
antiseptic, crushed garlic and death. 

Model: Margarita Julian/Photo from Panagbenga
Flower Festival in Baguio