Those Times Poem by RIC BASTASA

you never knew
those times were my hardest
i was bordering between
two walls, the sane and the insane one
at night i climbed a tree
to see the world below me
i sat upon a fence to see cars
passing by
and the nocturnal people
who kiss and go separate ways

those were my hardest times
i tell you again
when God faded like a mist
when blessings were like dew
at noon there was nothing

i had all the pretenses
for i knew how to sing and dance
and compose the most read poems
in the university

it was a form of survival and so
when it was over
when i got the praises and the approval
i packed up my back
took a few clothes
and left a note that i would be coming back

but you knew too well
i have my father as a good excuse
and mother too
who cried for me

i went to the mountain to teach the
natives how to live and be independent
i gave them a play
and they recited well the lines
i gave them what i got
all rhetoric, and sophistry

i have gone back to plant camote
catch my own fish
sail my own boat
dive my own waters
and hate to remember what drowning was.

when we see each other again
i will tell again and again
i never belonged there
i became free and now oh well, i am happy.