do you remember the creaking bed
playing on the top bunk of the room we painted red
running during afternoons as our sweat oozes
falling over, riddling us with little bruises

when everything went silent as dusk falls
but our laughter would still echo through the halls
building forts made out of sticks and stones
barbarically wrecking them like we were cyclones

then everything changed as our toga caps flew
up, up in the sky marking a time to start anew
out, out, to the other side of the globe you went
a day that brought nothing but torment

now as time passed and as i grew
i realized how much i’ve been missing you
a compass to guide me to all things that were good
one who i wished had stayed till adulthood

long has it been since the day that you left
lost as i was, life was not over yet
a candle in the dark, left in the past
what remains are relics of our time that have passed

Editor’s Note: This article was first published in the Banaag Diwa 2025: Nasaag Literary Folio of Atenews.