May 15 by Vivien Talon

May 15
by Vivien Talon

May 15, 2012
Seven years later,
and it still feels like yesterday.

Like yesterday, when I felt
the heavy air of dry season,
or smelled the heavy scent of Filipino street foods and smoke.

I still know the feeling
of sliding down my grandmother's newly waxed floors,
waking up in the hub of Tarlac city,
seeing the hustle and bustle of the streets below the apartment.

Or seeing the bags of pearly pink cotton candy
vendors sold as the San Sebastian Cathedral bells rang,
the deified echoes of spoken homilies bouncing off the walls.

Seven years,
and it's all still very real to me.
I'm another world away,
but I still can't imagine where I would be --
who I would be if I never moved.

My goals and aspirations in life,
who my friends would be,
what life I would live
if I never left.

And yet,
I find myself thinking,
I don't regret ever leaving.