Because you discovered that

the world was not yours, your world

 

crashed. Your world

 

that just because was not yours

crashed but not because of you

 

Until you stand up now

to a world that stands on nothing

 

 

 

You want to continue

after everything had come to pass, after everything

 

was made known. Now

 

the voices are calm, no longer

one utters a word that once

 

had its use. The self had use

 

for the self, you wished to say

in the end to commemorate what passes for life

 

 

 

You will write

yourself. You will write

 

on every word you will choose

 

in order to submit yourself

to every word you will renounce

 

in order to once again fail

in every renunciation

 

 

 

On the day you need

to say goodbye, you cannot walk away from

 

your room. At the last moment

 

you will decide to slip it inside your pocket

There’s your bed, small table, lamp

 

for reading. You will travel

 

from thereon without leaving

your room. In your frequent reentry

 

into it, you need to always ask for permission

 

Each day, you cannot walk away from

your room. Inside your pocket

 

every last moment, you slip it in

 

 

 

At this moment, you curse once again having lived

for art

translated from Filipino by Kristine Ong Muslim