Poetry for all seasons
A lesson I learned is that poetry, even as crude as mine, can be learned by anyone, particularly if one is as tongue-tied as me.
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A lesson I learned is that poetry, even as crude as mine, can be learned by anyone, particularly if one is as tongue-tied as me.
MAYUMI
NOEMI
IDA Joseph
Every so often, I like to reflect and hark back to what I would often do in my youth before age robs me of my memory. That is, when I am at a loss for spoken words, I sit down and scribble my thoughts in a poem as an expression of my true feelings.
This penchant for writing poems honed in my years at the Ateneo has apparently rubbed off on my grandchildren.
Today, allow me to share a few poems by my poetic granddaughters, Mayumi and Noemie, as they embark on their adventures that life has to offer. And with great humility, poems as well by me, in the twilight of my own journey.
My reflections of 2025 (December 2025)
With God’s grace, another year has passed
And 2025 will soon be relegated to the dustbin of memories of life’s past
As the clock ticks down on the remaining days of 2025
Memories have come flashing back to me, that will never be.
The year has been like a roller coaster ride
Of ups and downs, of lows and highs, of joys and angst
Which each of us knows in our hearts that it is what God has meant life to be
Our beloved country is again besieged by scoundrels of no morals
And gloom has once more descended on us
Because of the handiwork of an evil few
But I choose not to be in despair because
Of what the year has been for me.
I can only look back with a smile and with gratitude in my heart
For all the wonderful gifts that God has so kindly bestowed on me
The year started with newfound love and as 2025 comes to a close
Surrounded by loved ones and the LOVED ONE
I can only wonder in amazement at this miracle, for one as unworthy as me
Why this is so I often ask but until now I still don’t know
I can only look up to heaven and ask, God why me?
Love Ramblings of the Sea (Boracay, August 2025)
The vastness of the sea
Compares not to what you see
That only true love can see
For my love for her
Shall always be.
The moonlit sky of the night
Shines brightly amid the darkness
True love’s beams founder not
As my love for her will never cease.
Maker by Mayumi (April 2025)
My back softens when I feel You near
Like a stem’s bend without the break
In my clay, You’ve left prints
That stayed after the bake.
Gentler Water by Mayumi (April 2025)
If the riptide gets me and I’m pulled away
I will be scooped up
Gently, whole, in His density
What’s black is only blue
The roughness is fairing
And no sounds may hurt me.
I am kept within You like a pearl in a mollusk
In the belly of a whale
Possessed in Your ebb and flow
Like wind caught in a sail
May Your waves never let me go
May Your salt never leave my hair.
For my dearest Lolo by Noemie (December 2025)
Since I was small, the stories all began the same
"Ask Lolo – he'll teach you, poetry's his game"
Before I knew what verses might be
Poetry was already living in me—
It lived in your name.
Lolo, the first poem I ever learned
A word from my lips before meaning was earned
I spoke it with ease, never questioned the sound
Some words choose the heart before meaning is found.
And when paired with hers, the two names would sing
Falling like rhyme, like rhythm, like music and everything
I didn’t know they meant Grandpa, Grandma
Just names that lingered with me, like a mantra.
As I grew older, I learned what words could hold
Each year you told me, each lesson retold
How time had shaped the girl you once knew
Your steady voice always guiding me through.
So now I write the way you did
Because you showed me all words can give
That poetry is how love stays, outlasting time, outliving days.
Merry Christmas, Lolo.
A lesson I learned is that poetry, even as crude as mine, can be learned by anyone, particularly if one is as tongue-tied as me.
Happy New Year to one and all!
Until next week… OBF!
For comments, email bing_matoto@yahoo.com
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