The passing of strangers Leaves often a trail Of gentle words unsaid; Of kindness unwrought In silver pieces Unfingered, unseen; Of leaden faces laden With silent needs, Framed back against The dust-choked glass Panes in a bus station; Heaving In plodding cadence, Of hearts That may have felt Some lukewarm fears.
Tears quietly A little bit off me Each time. A moment too soon, That passing moment Stays a tender thought In mid-air; Slaughters a smile Before it reaches The final creases Of meaning; And flips aside A neutral pain.
A stranger to myself.
Rene Ezpeleta Bartolo is a journalist based in Davao
City, Philippines, writing a daily column (Ricochet) for the Mindanao
TIMES, a community paper circulated in the island of Mindanao, southern
Philippines.She also contributes to foreign publications and online
newspapers. Rene was a media awardee of Panos/GKP-London and the United
Nation's WSSCCI in 2004; and the winner for three consecutive years
(1999, 2000, and 2001) as Best Columnist of the Davao Catholic Mass
Media Awards."Passing of Strangers" is the title poem of an
unpublished book of poetry.
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