Childhood
It's fun to recall the memories of my childhood
Happened in the distant past and a rural neighborhood
Where majority of houses were made of light materials
Where poverty and hunger were the common trials.
Despite the dire situation, kids get to play everyday
Running, yelling, jumping high, there's so much energy
Though there were house chores to finish and so has to hurry
Even the difficulty with worn-out slippers was no cause to worry.
Among the many, I'm that skinny girl but usually the leader
Quick, agile, strong, never tired and one of the fastest runner
Whether luksong-tinik or chinese garter, I'm the highest jumper
Even for tumbang preso, patintero, sekyu or petyaw, I'm a good player.
Because of play, we often end with bleeding elbow if not the knee
Found in our backyard, we immediately run to the teak tree
Rubbing the young leaves between the palms, it produced red sap
Quickly placed it over the wound to clean so the swelling stop.
In school, I started young compared to all the rest
And so, in terms of height, I was the smallest
Bullying was rampant when all adults have left
But confidence had me for I was among the smartest.
I still remember Mrs Delia was our Grade 1 teacher
Ms Taligatos was our mentor when I was a second grader
In Grade 5, teacher taught us to recite Psalm 23
She's kind and pretty, we called her Ma'am Seville.
Our home was far from school, it was a long hike
A good friend of mine coached me to ride a bike
The same one who taught me to play guitar though my singing was bad
So happy that father bought me that instrument, just a second-hand.
To my classmates, I sold biscuits, candies, and chocolate
Usually I traded food that I fancy, the few left I ate
The money I made, I kept in a secret little chest
When there were school contributions then I won't be late.
Probably out of scarcity, in my idle moments I kept dreaming
To meet a magical genie that grants three wishes without failing
In my early years, over old newspapers and magazines I looked
To cut pictures of what I wanted to become and pasted on a scrapbook.
Looking back, though I lived a hand-to-mouth existence
In my young mind, what I have and do gave me happiness
Later I realized I needed to work hard to find a good livelihood
Whatever the future brings, I have fond memories of my childhood.