After Reading Your Poem About 2018.... Poem by RIC BASTASA

you make me remember what happened
in 2019,
your memories of 2018 have become my
instigating points,
you see, i have a friend named Romulo
a musician, who fell in love with a
half-blind woman who sings beautifully
like a nightingale in Jolo, Sulu, and
they got married and have two children
who were not into music, but they accepted
all these without question from God
or Allah,
one son went to Sales and Marketing while
the other went to a writing career but
got so depressed having found discovered
lately her lesbian tendencies for which
she attempted to end her life just because
of that,
silly matter i supposed, but Romulo sent a
message that he visited her in the hospital
until she recovered, and assured her
that being a lesbian is but a normal behavior
and that she will be loved just the same,
but that is not the point of my story,

that morning of early October of 2019, we
had a chat, where Romulo signified finally
to transfer to the city where i lived,
find work here as a musician, serve the
church choir, relocate his family, sell his
house in Jolo, take with him his two poodles,
and settle for good, in a land where
peace is secure and where he would not
worry about any bomb threat as usual in Jolo.

that late morning, a news flash was seen on
TV that a church in Jolo was bombed and that
there were many casualties,

and i tried to communicate through cell phone
asking if Romulo was safe, but there was no
answer.

and then i watched the evening news of that same
day, a couple where the suicide bomber sat beside
them, were part of the fatalities.

Romulo and his wife died instantly.
Their faces shred into pieces, and bodies
shattered and scattered all over the church,
had to be re-assembled for purposes of
putting them in one coffin, so that a decent
burial could still be done for the sake of
friends, relatives and family members
and for those who would still come during
the interment and prayers.

the saddest part of 2019 was over.