we remember a place we’ve never been to,
because it’s been calling us
since the beginning of time
to pay it a visit one morning,
fully trusting and believing
that we shall tend
to its flora and fauna,
its strip of earth,
breath of air,
and bodies of water
as caring stewards,
while it nourishes us
even for just one luminous day.
Then, we’ll graciously leave
right before dusk,
with nothing in our hands
but with spirits soaring
in supreme blessedness.
Karlo Sevilla is the author of the full-length poetry collection Metro Manila Mammal (Some Publishing, 2018), and his poems appear in Philippines Graphic, Radius, Unlikely Stories Mark V, Collective Unrest, I am not a silent poet, Tuck Magazine, and elsewhere. In his spare time, he volunteers for the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (Solidarity of Filipino Workers).