Memories of a Sampaguita Girl

The wind of the night above the polluted,

populated streets of Manila,
carried the dark rotating smoke rings
of sighs and cries of the heart...


Restless hearts under,
Struggling to protect themselves
from dying young...

Why shouldn't I know this when...


These little girls start to design
their future and yet their cries
are beyond mine,


As the dark smoke rings keep rotating,
so do I...


then


why


is


that...


These little girls awakened my
mind to the image of my best friend.
Of her telling me of her life's soaring
though she had barely gotten out of her babyhood...


She was a permanent fixture,
holding garlands of sampaguita
on the sidewalk and made that particular place her domain.


It became our playground after my class...but...time flies fast...that...


One day I saw her no more,


There were life's mysteries I
couldn't imagine,


How


could


I...


The next day I was casually told by the jobless alcoholic she
was hit by a car " Dead on the spot"...
Would that be the end of it all?




I felt myself fighting against a tornado.
I lost my balance upon hearing her voice echoing:
"I am the eldest and I need to sell sampaguita to help
my mother raise my three little sisters...
someday I wanted to be a doctor too"...


Sometimes...
I ask the whys and the what if's
when night time falls...


Times like this when....

I hear the sighs and cries
of the restless hearts


and...

I cant help but...


...remember my best friend.


('Memories of a Sampaguita Girl' was inspired by a true story. The Sampaquita with its very distinct, heady fragrance is the national flower of the Philippines).