TO A NEW FOUND FRIEND

today my heart is heavy

as Bulusan mountain

remembering red roses

   plucked too soon...

beyond the barred windows

the hills of Sorsogon

call to me yearningly

in my dreams i reach out

to stroke their lovely waves,

dear and dark in the night

like my beloved’s hair

oh stranger!  if you should see

my old father

tell him someday for sure

i shall be home again.

            - Solita

  February 21, 1974