Memory Lane@tabon Poem by RIC BASTASA

lately, he has been talking about separations
how painful the process can be at the start
just like a wound with a pus
but somehow when that infected thing
bursts and the cause is removed
the relief that is felt justifies all the
fears and anxieties

she likes it too
the way she dismembers a wing from the
body of a bee
how its sting has to be extricated so that
it cannot penetrate another flesh
and cause inflammation

he too remembers how he once disassembled
the toy robot that Papa once bought him during
his 5th birthday
when Mama went away packing all her things
and took the bus to ozamis

things repeat themselves and they all know that
and some people despite this knowledge allow these things to happen

not because it is painful but because it finds at the end
the reliefs they are seeking.