'Cabcaben' by Molly Drury
Posted by sregan | Filed under poetry
'Cabcaben'
Writing it, I see how much I love the sound.
Cabcaben. Cabcaben. Cabcaben.
We went down, the morning of Easter Sunday,
Sampaguita and adobo.
Your dark head
Was an anting-anting in the crowd. The parades
Smelt as sweet as love, if love were allowed
A smell. The wishing hands of locals pressed their palms
upon the saint's feet
In Cabcaben, the petals drifting off
Like pieces of hopes and dreams at our feet. I said
what I had wished, I asked you to tell me those words,
shifting inside your heart
They spilt from your lips,
I heard the sounds uttered by you,
Everything we have wish for in Cabcaben,
Cabcaben, Cabcaben, will always come true.
- Molly Drury
