Ode to Kitakits*

by the water fountain
we were all supposed to meet
in a place called libis**
seems like a fun place to sit down and eat

hanging out with my friends from highschool
who i spent four years with
we've witnessed each other transform
into young men and women from being a kid

some of them i have heard from
thanks to the wonders of the internet
some of them i haven't, at all, seen
i hope, each other, we will never forget

feeling so beat
i thought i was too exhausted to play
because i was running some errands
from morning till the end of day

i got to the venue
thinking i was already late
right away i saw two familiar faces
i waved to them, suddenly, i was feeling great

the third person to show up
i haven't seen for a long long time
i had already forgotten
he was a terrible crush of mine

for a moment i was speechless
i lost my thoughts and candor
all my memories and history
amazingly in glorious color

one by one
my other friends from highschool arrived
bringing with them stories
to share on the table, they don't mind

one chose to be a journalist,
another one a doctor,
the others engineers,
business owners, and a bank auditor

im so jealous in a good kind of way
for what they have accomplished
the one with the most kids has six
that area in life, i may have already missed

in the midst of all the chatter
my mind is stuck on a single thing
it has been fifteen years since highschool
our lives have changed and its continually changing

everyone called it a night
when the clock struck one o'clock
i took another group picture
maybe next year, we'll be back

~ral


* Kitakits is a tagalog slang that means small get-togethers
** Libis is an area in Metro Manila that teems with life at night

(The festive display can be seen around QC's Libis district, in Metro Manila, Philippines)