(after H. Arlo Nimmo’s The Songs of Salanda)
I knew you
when the waters reflected
a smile on your
face, when days
blended into one another,
along with the hazy sunset.
Your voice, a golden thread
binding the boats around
to form a tight circle.
You, always you,
in the middle.
Ears pressed against your door
every time your floorboards shifted.
Everything stood still
on rushing waters
for you. Even the wind
stopped its whistling to hear
you.
Now, you sit motionless
while time drifts
away. You sit and count
every sunrise and sunset,
waiting for the waves
to echo
your songs back.
Malaya Kundiman Novicio is a seventeen year old Creative Writing student from the Philippine High
School for the Arts. She lives in Tagaytay City where she spends all of her free time hanging out
and talking to her five cats. In 2024, she published her first book ‘gabi na, matulog ka na’ under her school. The said book
contained a collection of children’s short stories focused on highlighting a Filipino’s narrative,
something she finds to be important in her works.
"Ocean Sunrise" by The Lamb Family is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
