forever remains the simple truths you have left behind. embedded in our memories the mannerisms of a single individual, her own, complete. grateful to have heard, seen, touched, smelled, known and understood those instances that make up, made up those moments in time passed and floated by. from the beginning of my existence, existed swinging dangling arms, dangling skin from faces and arms. perming my hair with straightening chemicals creating halves of halves, imbalanced on my head. repetitive stories that are new each time we hear it. your slow walks to your quick slurs imitating the english words spoken through our filipino-canadian tongues and while we learned and made money from morning to afternoon, leaving you alone with newscasters that sang to you an unknown tune, you slid mirror doors so as to avoid interaction between you and foreign beings, to you a foreign species. squeezing eye-popping gerbil pets, spotting the oolings that swallow the mall whole – standing still, dumbfounded by the deep-coloured skin, as deep as ocean’s floor, your love conspicuous through your silent presence.
the peace and calmness that resided within you resounded through our home through our inner thoughts and raw exteriors. creating in me a deeper respect for those who are the more like you. from the beginning, after my 5-year-old response of ‘e di dapat patay ka na?’ to your answer of ’75′ i knew you were invincible. if not physically, then in all other ways forever will remain your simple quiet truths that you have unknowingly left trailed behind you. 110 or 86 years old, invincible.
Coleta Libanan
March 23, 1923 – March 19, 2009
