shine

it was one of those rare ocassions that i get to enjoy the luxury of television when i saw the ad with this song as jingle. i suddenly was absorbed by the lyrics. can't help but rememeber that moment when God chose me and showed His glorious light. Sure enough i had a lot of dim moments after that, but everytime i was dumped into darkness, He would pick me up and would shine in His wondrous light, so bright that all my flaws are concealed and only His light will shine through.surely, i will never look or sing this song the same way again..


There I was alone in the shadow
Couldn't find my way
Then you came in
And brought along the sunshine
Now you're here to stay

(Chorus) You make me shine, shine
Like the stars in the heavens
Shine, shine
You keep me shinning through
Shine, shine
With the light that you give in, it's true
I'm shinning on, all because of you

So watch me go
A light shines within me
People ask me why
And I just smile & tell them you're the reason
I've cast the darkness aside

(Repeat Chorus)

(Coda) Like a ray of light
Coming through the night
bright as the stars in the sky
See how I shine
(Repeat Chorus 2x until fade

mailbox

it would be one of my almost ordinary days. there would be me , wearing my most comfortable shirt and jeans. one of my not so busy days. i would just be sitting on the front porch swing, slowly moving with the hanging seat, no room for rush. no, never on this day!
i would be drinking iced tea, reading a novel perhaps, which i would put down at the sound of that truck.
and there he would be in his good old harry that drove him through life's tiring journey. there he would be, my robert kincaid. as he''ll approach my mailbox, it will read "leslie tayao". just me. just my name. never a "richard johnson" or any other name who doesn't know how to drink brandy with me.
he would ask me for directions to that place he so long wanted to go to. and i would gladly show him the way. and we will go and travel.
we would drink brandy on balconies in Mombasa, or maybe watch dhows from Arabia run up their sails in the first wind of morning. he'll show me the lion country and an old French city on the Bay of Bengal where he'll bring me to that wonderful rooftop restaurant. but i would not ask for much. i'll be glad to just hand him his camera as he takes picture of the wonders of life. or maybe if he gets tired of the road, we'll just set up a shop somewhere or just whatever it takes to keep us going.
at the moment that he would ask me to go with him, i will go. because i have waited for this moment. made sure that i would not be tied with the realness of the responsibility of the county. because i believe in that same thing he believes in. that in a universe of ambiguity, this kind of certainty comes only once and never again, no matter how many lifetimes we will live. and after sometime, maybe, just maybe, we can ask a waller to write our story.

hey yo mamiyo!

what can i say? it's your birthday again... and just like the good'ol days, im giving some flowers and a cake and a gift. for the nth time, i wanted it to be something grand! something extravagant, something you deserve. but here i go again with the kiss and all my sweet nothings. when will i ever find the perfect gift? something that could tell just how much thankful i am for all the things you've done for me. material thing or whatever! but i can't come up with one. if i'll just know it, i'll work my ass out just to give that to you.
sometimes, i do not know if i had told you how much i love you. or much more if had shown that to you. if only you could read this, ma!
i just looked at you this morning. i could see the signs of the 48 years, the wrinkles could be due to the 21 of those years spent with me. i know i have never been a difficult child because you just know how to raise us well. but everytime i would think of all that we went through as a family, with dad and michelle, i could swear to the world that we will never have to go through those again. you will never have to go through that again, never in your life, ma!
i know sometimes, well, a lot of times, you are so possessive of me, always wanting me by your side. but i want you to know that eventhough i do whine at times, i want to feel needed by you. i want to be there for you to provide strength when you badly need one. strength that you yourself taught me. strength that came from you. i can always be your shock absorber when the world doesn't seem to go right for us. and i hate myself for the times i felt tired of doing these things for you.
sometimes i feel that your world just revolve around us. i know you have a life too before we came to your world. but you never had a second thought to just drop that life in exchange for us. i hope i could put into words just how thankful i am but i can't. after my salvation, you are God's greatest blessing to me. thank you for always being the understanding mom that you are, for listening to my concerns, for giving value to what is important for me and giving value to what i say, for covering up for me , for forgiving me a zillion times, for listening to my pains, my heartaches, for loving me with all your heart, unconditionally, for being my best friend, for crying with me, for rejoicing for all my triumphs, well, not that i have a lot, for being my strength. ma, i just want to tell you that i love you so much! more than i can say, more than i could show! thank you for your sweet big heart for me, I love you ssooooooooo much! i could disappoint the whole world but not you, ma. happy birthday ma! i love you...

seven wonders of the world

***this is so nice, no? =)