Dear Sun

Dear Sun, thank you for shining on me today.

Sun rises in the island city of Samal, Davao del Sur.

When you leisurely peeped in my window this morning, your vibrancy warmed me inside and woke all my slumbering senses.

Water hyacinths open up to the early morning sun in Lake Sebu, South Cotabato.

The moment you wrapped me with your light, I allowed myself to melt like the last winter snow softening into dew kisses on leaves of trees. 

I felt my skin opened up with your affectionate embrace like the rousing petals of the blooms in the garden in spring.

The sun paints the morning sky in Tagbiliran, Bohol.

Oh how pleasurable you are when you slowly lighted up the cerulean blue of the sky with your radiance! I knew then that my day would be complete even if the cottony clouds linger to soak up the splendor of you or even if it rains.

The scene before the sun sets in Kiamba, Sarangani.

Because just when the last of your golden rays bled and gave in to the shadows and the beautiful mystery of the night, remember that somewhere here, beyond the horizon you so loved to come home to, there’s a dreamer who longs for you.

Boys watch the sun bleed before finally fading into the horizon.

Until tomorrow.

The Dream Catcher

I heard his soft footsteps when he approached the hard unforgiving couch where I laid pretending to be asleep. My anticipation heightened when he slowly drew nearer like a cat on a hunt. I closed my eyes tightly, took a shallow deep breath and prepared myself for one of the most awaited sweetest moments of my childhood.

He picked me up carefully from the couch and I tried my best not to gasp. The familiar scent of him, a clean mixture of early morning dew and the breeze blowing from the sea filled my lungs and I found myself drifting slowly to sleep. The short distance from the couch to our bedroom seemed like eternity and I cherished every moment cradled in the warmth of his chest and the safety of his strong arms.

I felt the familiar texture of the mosquito net touching my feet as he lifted it up. Our bamboo bed melted into the luxuriously-soft mattress in that story of the Princess and the Pea when he put me down into it with intricate care. Cautious not to let the cold of the night’s mist seeped in, he wrapped me up to my neck in a blanket. Then when he was sure that I was settled in, his ritual began.

He tucked the edges of the mosquito net carefully into the mat. Then, in the darkness of the room he switched on his flashlight and tuned his ears to the buzzing of any mosquito that got in. I could hear him swat them one by one and when he thought his movements started to disturb us, he would pat me and my younger siblings on our side and brought us back to sleep.

I remembered how each night, I would drift off to sleep peacefully and woke up every morning from beautiful sweet dreams.