in a grocery store

soon...‬ ‪we’ll meet again by chance,‬

‪maybe in a famous fastfood chain’s ‬ ‪table by two occupied ‬ ‪by myself alone,‬ ‪then you’ll ask for the other seat ‬ ‪because there’s no vacant chair ‬ ‪left in the room,‬ ‪then we’ll talk long enough to realize ‬ ‪that some were waiting for us to move.

‪or in a jeepney— ‪congested like canned sardines‬, ‪that smells like sweat and underpayment,‬ ‪bound to the same destination.‬ ‪i, on the back driver’s seat,‬ ‪reaching fares and giving changes ‬ ‪in rusty coins and crumpled bills‬ ‪when i happen to receive yours.‬

‪or in a music festival ‬ ‪where our hearts sing along ‬ ‪to the same song, ‬ ‪“for the first time by the script”‬ ‪like when i first saw your eyes glimmer—‬ ‪spotlight in a bandwagon crowd.‬ ‪our voices mixing with them,‬ ‪still i hope, for the second time,‬ ‪mine will reach you.‬

‪or in a sidewalk at night,‬ ‪where we used to cross together‬ ‪on our way to my boarding house. ‬ ‪the bright phone screen,‬ ‪and the streetlights, ‬ ‪will highlight your tan skin i love the most.‬ ‪we are pedestrians meeting in the middle ‬ ‪while the cars move along to their homes.‬

‪or in a night market,‬ ‪that lingers of our nightouts after class,‬ ‪where we used to eat my favorite buchi‬ ‪and drink your favorite blue dynamite.‬ ‪where we used to rendezvous,‬ ‪where you used to walk me home,‬ ‪it just happens that we’re buying it again‬ ‪at the same vendor, at the same time.‬

‪time waits for no one, ‬ ‪even for a love ‬ ‪that is meant to happen ‬ ‪but not to last.‬ ‪impatient like a selfish god, ‬ ‪who controls everything ‬ ‪with just three hands,‬ ‪so, let’s dance along to its motion.‬

let growth take us there when we’ve already found ourselves in a path of dust but able to walk in solitude. maybe today is just not the day for our love to collide. soon, we would meet again... somewhere only we know.

or in a grocery store where i asked you one time to go with me, but you didn’t. maybe in time, you will since we already know what we seek, to buy what is necessary, to avoid what is not, capable enough to handle our baggages.

when we meet again, where we’re bound to meet again, call me by the name i worked hard for, and i’ll be glad if you’ll lend me your hand to carry on because today might be too soon for an unprepared heart to solace.

meet me there by chance, by then, maybe, just maybe, we can try again.