A canopy of dark clouds
hovers above the city
like an old newspaper
covering a dead body.
Another victim
of the Davao Death Squad.
It never fails.
I see other headlines of death,
a barangay official ambushed,
an innocent citizen stabbed to death
while falling in line
to buy two kilos of NFA rice.
Media men being harassed.
It never fails to rain
in the afternoon or at night
the way people never fail to fill
the city’s square,
men of different ages and from different classes,
men seeking the company of others.
And then when it rains I wonder,
Does the greasy man in black ever sleep?
Does he ever drink coffee?
Does he ever like the rain?
—-
Myan May G. Declaro hails from Surigao del Sur and is currently a senior BA English – Creative Writing student of UP Mindanao.