It was a thin slice of light
through the windowpane
an hour before dawn
as I stood looking out
for that not faraway house
where lives a single lady.
A teacher who scared
the wits out of a kid
who refused to let go of her
mothers' hand that needed
to hang clients' clothes
the kid rose and said
she would rather want to help
her mother to be with her.
But the teacher kept telling
her stories of a winged friend
who kidnaps and eats the stubborn.
With fiery eyes the kid let go
of her mother, crossed the street
near the fiend's flat.

The teacher paid me
a visit this morning
forty-days after that day
she fooled me and lay down
her peace offering.
Told me mother has no clothes
to hang. I followed her
to check my flapping foe
But there was only a single
slab of light.

---

Angelo B. Ancheta writes from the Philippines.