A boy contemplates the nipa huts
Beneath the coconut trees as a patch
Firewoods for the sacrificial pyre
And the land heaves beside the waves.
He rows as a speck in the sea
His arms full now, his eyes deep
Scan the point on the beach
Where once a father had dearly bled.

The sand lays white as a breast
Where waves race one another to caress
And when it gets smudged in red with haste
The waves would roll their backs to cleanse.
Nearby Jolo languishes in a mist;
A mountain frowns, the sea's in rage
A conscience alien to her mosques
Stalks as thumping shells, the giant feet.

Below the waters in the depth
Of weeds and reefs and the labyrinth,
The sea urchins prick with readiness,
Disturbing like empty tipsy wells:
Just one lesson learned and the lad
Seeks the sea and the brooding beach
For the rest of the folds, the nerves
As well as the integral bind.

- Isnani