She came growling and wagging her tail.
I thought she was a sweet young woman.
She was a freak, lunging at every life,
grabbingcoconut palms, bananas,
mangoes, acacias, and houses fiercely.
She was with the famished death,
their scythe seawater,by magic,
drowning out every life they passed by.
Unsurfaced roads churned into mud
byher invisible feet and her breath blew
offgables of nipa and cogon and tin.
No matter what theysaw to eat
they polished anyone off in an instant –
a baby, an old woman, a mother,
a husband, a wife, a professor,
a call centre agent, a gay, a beautician,
a soldier, a politician, a journalist,
a nurse, a doctor, a kitten, a mouse,
a goldfish, an iguana, a gecko.
They took a bite of every dream,
of every love, of every joy, chewed
and swallowed in hanging fire.
They cast out the beliefand disbelief,
the celebration and silence,
the way of life and rituals,
even the abhorrence and self-indulgence,
the positivity and pessimism,
leaving a cry of anguish bursting
from the lips of the victim survivors
shakingwith terror and with rage
as the passers-by hastened with quicksilver
steps towards other islands whose
victimhood was foreseen and reviled.
All over were remnants of mortal frailties.
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