Kabangka by Rachel Evangline Chiong

 Kabangka

By: Rachel Evangline Chiong

When we stand at the edge of the universe

the stardust ebbs and flows between our toes

We, the Filipinos,

comb our fingers through hair, thick and wavy,

washed in rivers of sinking stars

Brace our shoulders against celestial wind

Bodies darkened by kisses from the galaxy

Behind us,

Deep British Blue Meteor

Belts blossom into space

Red Spanish Dust Cloud

Debris whistle past our ears

like gunshots

driving us away

When we leap at the edge of the universe

and kick the stardust behind our heels

comets scrape against the hull of our boat

our knees brace, elbows lock as we leave behind

our dying home battered by red scabs and blue bruises

Years later

Our hearts will flutter as the breeze whispers

through the looser seams of this old boat

Wishing one day

We could leave Earth and return home

Somewhere, Up There, where we used to watch

the Earth beat

to the rhythms

of our rowing

Instead, we sow stars

hoping one day among clouds of sampaguita

galaxies might come bursting into fields

their fruits exploding with milky way and honey

Instead, we stay silent

when they tell us we were strangers who had fallen

from the exotic edges of the universe

where the angels and aliens live in heaven

Instead, we trail our fingers

on the surface of the aimless faceless waters,

waiting for a wind to catch our sails,

watching our stories like the ripples begin growing

We are going

everywhere

and nowhere

our flowing is

(only another wave kissing)

the paddles

of our rowing