A Poem on a Sunday Afternoon

to Summer, Vince and Miggy

VINCE GABRIEL. Photo from Glaiza Mae Franco-Sambat

I have walked for almost a score,

Gained and lost things now and then.

Now, looking at you, I plead earnestly—

Help restore a childlike life in me.

Help me stay open to your child’s wisdom,

To breathe and live, despite boredom.

Help me stay firm, and with your innocence,

STEVEN MIGUEL. Photo from Tatum Grace Lopez-Manzano

That I may always be grounded, to see sense.

Help me, please, to let you take my hand.

Remind me that life is not always grand,

That I must fall in order to rise and plod on—

Like when you took your first steps and walked on.

SUMMER GAEL. Photo from Michael Angelo Maga-ao

Help me stick to truth when I am most tempted to fib.               

Help me keep my peace at the peak of Anger’s glib.

Help me hold my tongue, when I am tempted to speak,

To keep calm, to pray, to trust, when hope is very bleak.