I PROMISED TO CHANGE THE FILM

1.

How else could I design

A life so colorful, so dramatic

As being born in a place

To infuse me with three languages

Ganxie, Salamat, Thank you

2.

How else could I design

An early schooling which strengthens

The basics of my language skills

Dotted with travels to Pearl of the Orient

And the joy of riding a make believe horse

And the thrill of just watching

A paper plane glide

3.

How else could I design

The gathering of eight friends

We called INBEEJBA

“Do they want it?”

We asked.

No need to answer

For the friendship was golden

4.

How else could I design

Those college days

For minds to meet the minds

Where the naked statue of Diliman

Strived to educate me

To unleash my dreams and imagination

Setting the tone of this creative hand

5.

How else could I design

A gap year filled with simple joy

Laying on a cardboard on the ground

Listening to the joke making Filipinos

As if having my own comedy channel

Laughing till my belly aches

And of course

To meet my soul mate

6.

How else could I design

Four years of learning this body

From cranial nerves to the microscopic

Glomerulus, from the mucosa of the smell

To nerve ending of my lips

How one’s pupils dilate

How a lover swallows his lover

With all the sympathetic nerves

Activated

7.

How else could I design

A broken year

Face to face with the people in need

Sawing up a driver’s face by myself

Where I went to Formosa

To meet my first wife

And I returned to the making of my career

Escape

Not an option

8.

How else could I design

A dream come true

A place I called my homeland

A place where I sharpen my skill of speaking Chinese Mandarin

A place where I loaded my brain cells

With Chinese songs, and taste buds

With best fruits in the world

9.

How else could I design

Crossing the ocean like my grandfather

A brave soul landing in a foreign land

Putting down a stake on the ground

Almost losing the training to be a healer

But my angels intervened

I passed the examination

And the rest is history

10.

How could I design

Three years of residency

My final training to be a physician

My initial training to be a father

My point of no return

Into this path to sit at the best seat

For human drama

Broken bones

Broken families

Broken hearts

11.

How could I design

The real battle ground

Eight thousand souls on a freezing land

I cared for the newborn to the last inhalation, I sutured squirting arteries

And perineum too broken to be recognized,

I managed to have fun

A fishing pole, a hole on the frozen lake

Ah, the original movie “Frozen”

12.

How could I design

A better way to meet death face to face

A speeding car crashed into a brick wall

In a quiet Saturday afternoon

I walked away untouched

To tell the story

I survived and why don’t we continue

To make the film

13.

How could I design

A better chapter

Where the hero landed in the Sin City

And the Sun City

Where the awakening is getting stronger

Day after day

Yes, I promised to change the film

Playing in my mind

The story of a brave soul

Training for unconditional love

Accepting everything