Pope Francis, to me, was not just a Pope I see and hear on TV, the Internet or the newspapers.

One time, he even appeared in my dreams, making my connection to him very personal,

psychological and spiritual.

During the pandemic, I had a dream of Pope Francis sitting on a rocking chair in a room that felt

to be a part of my own house. Behind him was a window – and I saw a black bat trying to break

into the window.

Waking up after this dream, I pondered on what it meant. In my view, Pope Francis symbolized

goodness while the bat stood for evil. Having seen Pope Francis peacefully seated on the

rocking chair inside the room in my dream, I interpret it to be that my heart is aligned with

what is good. But the bat outside the window felt like an ominous warning that evil is always

prowling around, waiting to pounce.

The dream felt like a warning to me about the constant tug of war between good and evil. It

was so comforting to realize, in the end, that good will always defeat evil. But it won’t come

easy because evil will always try to cause mayhem.

Protecting one’s soul during a time of so much social media distraction, the overwhelming grief

and sadness caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and financial difficulties caused by the

lockdowns, is indeed a challenge. I had to cling to habitual prayer to draw strength from God to

be able to face the challenges hurled my way that time.

When I heard about Pope Francis’s passing after Easter Sunday 2025, I was deeply saddened

because I know how the world looked at his example and leadership, which came like a breath

of fresh air in empty cathedrals deserted by the faithful due to increasing secularism and

disillusionment.

Pope Francis championed a brand of religious leadership that emphasized the greatest

commandment of God: to love everyone. He opened the Catholic Church as a haven for foreign

migrants, the sick, the poor, the LGBTQIA, and built dialogue with foreign religious and political

leaders and called for cessation of conflicts in the most humble way: washing and kissing their

feet during Papal visits.

His sincerity resonated to everyone, from Catholics to other religions and nations, winning

hearts that were hardened by time and brokenness. The words of Pope Francis soothed every

wounded heart that needed healing and every weary soul that needed refreshment.

When Pope Francis died: his death signaled not the end, but the beginning of an unfinished

project he started – to reinvigorate the Church in order to be more inclusive, humane, and to

truly practice love the way Jesus Christ wanted it to be.

Looking at the youth today, I know that the message left behind by Pope Francis did not fall on

deaf ears. Young people are listening, and they vow to continue the struggle for inclusivity,

synodality and humanity in order to build a better world for everyone.

This book won the De La Salle University Bienvenido N. Santos Creative Writing Center Poetry Fellowship Grant in English in 2013, during my first year as a faculty member of the university. Although I have always been writing stories and poems since I was a child, I have never really considered myself as a poet. In fact, when I was in college, I became involved in two literary folios (Handumanan and TRIP) produced by the Philippine Collegian, official weekly student publication of the University of the Philippines Diliman between the years 1999 to 2000, not even as a poem contributor but as a business manager who facilitated its release.  I have been mostly writing feature articles and sociological research papers at that time.

It must be the beauty of Japan and my curiosity and wanderlust as a first-time international traveler in 2008 that unleashed the poet in me. My brain started to think in terms of literary images and metaphors. And as I commit to writing the metaphors on paper or note them on my mobile phone, verses turned into stanzas and stanzas turned into full-length poems.

Apparently, the experience of traveling and immersing in nature in Japan triggered poetic ruminations in me. After witnessing sunset in Mt. Fuji along the coast of Inamuragasaki on a trip to Kamakura in the Summer of 2010, for instance, the inspiration led me to write a poem called “Sunset at Mount Fuji” after going back to the hotel. The aura of that poetic moment manifests in this stanza:

From the shores of Inamuragasaki

Mount Fuji loomed on the north

Slowly descending behind it

In a burst of colors – the sun

Portraying its drama in hysterics

Of red, gold, orange and yellow streaks

Playing hide and seek

With cotton-candy clouds

           -“Sunset at Mount Fuji,” Verses from the Old Pink Tree

On a trip to Mount Norikuradake (乗鞍岳) in the summer of 2009, the southernmost and third tallest major peak of the Northern Japan Alps, the breath-taking scenery inspired me to write these lines:

A tranquil pond of emerald waters

Shimmered with the reflection of soft fleece clouds

Along its banks a path of shy flowers

Where elusive animals scuttle and peep from corners

The hanabatake*** was a sight to behold;

           - “The Mountain that Touched God’s Face: A Paean to Mount Norikura”, Verses from the

Old Pink Tree 

But it wasn’t only encounters with nature that made me write poetry. It was also my personal encounters with Japanese people that inspired a poem. These lines, for instance, that came to me while aboard the Nankai train to Kansai International Airport, were inspired by my encounter with a kind Japanese professor in the university:

The spring wind

                   Blows to my direction

                                        The warmth of your kindness

           -“The Old Pink Tree,” Verses from the Old Pink Tree

A nasty encounter with another Japanese professor has led me to document my experience in this poem:

The Sensei** slammed the door shut behind her

Using her body as a barrier

So that I could not enter the room

And she demanded with flashing eyes,

“Why are you late?”

I had nothing to say

Since my head was throbbing

From last night’s headache

Spinning from lack of sleep

After pulling an all-nighter

To write my term papers;

Then I heard her say again,

“So the train was not late.”

I was doomed.

She shut the door in haste

Right before my face.

           -“Shinkansen Society”, Verses from the Old Pink Tree

Both pleasant and unpleasant experiences in Japan, hence, have found a place to stay in the pages of my first poetry book. The book also included poems written based on my experience of the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011.

Then the black crows came

                   On its heels the ancient visitor

Bringing waves higher than the built walls

                   Flooding the towers with sea salt

Boiling hot until it dripped with rage

                   Molten lava seeping through the seams

The earth was burnt to death.

                   -“When Sunflowers Can No Longer Heal the Earth”, Verses from the Old Pink Tree

To get a copy of the book, you can follow these links:

Lazada: https://lnkd.in/evwH7PGy

8Letters Website: https://lnkd.in/ee9c_8pz

Gumroad: https://lnkd.in/ebRkeT6q

Kindle: https://lnkd.in/gkPgHcmM