prayer for roses

Dearest
the Philippines,
I have a confession:
in as much as my thumb aches to
shade the

name of
the president
my bones believe for, my
passport is held in a foreign
country

my wings
clipped, face first, on
a faraway soil. My
tongue, bitten by the bile taste of
regret.

I am
alone here, curled
in anticipation,
choked in worry, even honey
tastes bland.

My nights
are prayers in
the dark. May tomorrow
walk, crowned in roses, no thorns, just
blushing.

—

05.06.2022
©2022 Rosemawrites@A Reading Writer. All Rights Reserved.
Photo by Kier In Sight on Unsplash

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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For dVerse: MTB: Crowning Crapsey

It’s election time in the Philippines on Monday, May 9. I am here, some thousand miles far away, waiting for my passport to be returned to me. An expat with a visa to be renewed, tainted with delays, robbed of the right to vote.

My throat is choked because I have never been anxious for an election, ever. This could have been the third president I’ll be able to choose in a time where my motherland is buried in trillions, with a capital T, of debts.

The candidate I will vote for is a mother whose values, integrity, and previous receipts have shown and proven her ability to take the lead. She is well behind the frontrunner – banking on his surname more than anything.

For the past three years, I have left my motherland, stayed in two foreign countries, traveled a few more, and seen the many many many areas my country can improve on, not for me but for my people, my friends, my former colleagues, my family, my youngest sister Nicole.

This election is the most important to date, for me, with the background of the pandemic, the many unresolved injustices and killing, and the rampant and unending lies and corruption. I may not be able to seal my ballot and give my one vote, but if you are a Filipino reading this, I hope your vote is based on FACTS and TRUTH.

I hope that your choice is based on one’s track record and not idolatry. I hope your vote is based on your love for your family’s younger generation. I hope that we remain loyal to our country, not to a person.

Para sa aking inang bayan, malayo man ako, ang pangarap ko’y kulay rosas na bukas para sa iyo. (For my motherland, I may be far, but I dream of a rose-colored tomorrow for you.)

#IpanaloNa10To #LeniIsMyPresident #KulayRosasAngBukas #LeniKiko2022