Pit Senyor!
This is your thirty-first
candle this month. Your fervent hopes
of being with her,
walking in the rain,
sharing one umbrella,
trudging a journey,
together.
Your candles vary
every day. Some days, you lit them
golden and warm.
Some days, the wind
blows them stone cold.
You always say that once I light a candle,
Sto. Nino will eventually hear my prayer.
“Believe me, the unlit candles
are wishes in a state of sleep.”
But, do I need to light one?
Perhaps.
In silence,
I am with my prayer.
In silence,
I burn,
I melt,
I disintegrate
everyday,
alone.
Henrietta Diana de Guzman is a graduate of Creative Writing at UP Mindanao. She was a fellow for poetry at the 2009 Davao Writers Workshop and at the 2nd Sulat DULA: Playwriting Workshop at Xavier University (Ateneo de Cagayan University). Some of her works have appeared in SunStar Davao and the Best of Dagmay anthology.