Across Seas of Memory
By: Ulysses C. Ybiernas | February 10, 2021
Beyond the hills on the horizon high Languid gaze swept the seaward sky The clouds coil in an afternoon gleam Where wonder stir of hope and dream I turned my neck from front to rear The waves rose up with wrath sincere The whispering wind passed my ears Murmuring tales of old I so endear Dearest ones, your tears were dear Kisses though faint, a smile sincere The food, the gifts, a love expressed The penny with much care impressed These acts I held with purest grace You’d find such joy within my face Glimpse inside my heart, you'd see A flame that burnt for you and me Now that day reclines behind the hill Dusk arrives quickly, serene and still The sky, besieged with stars in flight Rejoiced beneath their silver knight Two armies touched me on both sides As if an old hand in my dream glides Unknown, yet kind, a touch so near Made twilight soft and evening clear The night descends with a solemn pace And slumber now veils me a weary face So many yawns, and darkness has spun And now sea sighs low, the day is done Yet in my mind, the past still recalls Echoing through, as the silence falls But forward there lies a path I tread A new dawn arises, the past has fled
This was written sometime May of 1986, during my first time leaving home as a teenager. I was aboard a vessel traveling from Cebu to Manila, accompanied by fellow seminarians. Standing alone at the stern, I felt a sudden wave of nostalgia wash over me. I thought of the family I had just left behind, their faces still fresh in my mind, and the uncertain world ahead, the seminary life I was about to enter.