Ofero Basbas Poems

at the beginning, facing a blank page,

don’t let the editor in.
...

Would have stayed a bit longer
but i am running out of words
i had hoped my words would count
for something like the great poets,
...

what is happiness. then?
is it like a passing fad
a breathe, a puff, a dewdrop?
the longer i live the lesser
...

ano, kun siring, an kaogmahan?
ini baga sarong bagay na uso lang ngonyan
sarong hinangos, buga nin duros, ambon lang?
habang ako naggugurang, nagdidikit an sakong aram; recuerdo asin pagkakataon,
...

a rose in one hand and silence

in the other,
...

let the poet be, for he has gone the way of dreams
in that space and time where he sometimes lives
there is nothing there, or everything there
empty, full, empty, fool, empty.
...

lambang turo' may sadiring tanog
lambang turo' may sadiring lugar
lambang turo' may sadiring pangaran
...

for sure, you only promised
one thing: being there

being there when the sun shone and
...

In the beginning

there was sound
...

come here, this is my undoing:
here in the velvet of night where all began
and where all will end;
this black moist veil embraces my being
...