POEM: The Day I Left the Camp

A SECOND HOME AWAY FROM HOME

A poem written by me 2 days before I left P.F.A.C.

My former Reception Class in PFAC Palawan, Dec. 1988

"A SECOND HOME AWAY FROM HOME"

The bus started spinning its wheels

And gently left the PFAC Palawan
I tried so hard to keep my tears from falling,
But soon I found myself crying

I realized it was the final day
For me to view the lovely place
Where I spent the best years of my life
Close to my heart and yet away from home

I kept on looking back... and back again
Trying to catch a glimpse, a glimpse
Of the place I learned to love sincerely
One that I held so dearly, a second home

All the lovely, picturesque sceneries
The pearly-white beaches along the sea
The old cathedral and the Buddhist temple
The simple but neat billets gradually perished
My friends with misty eyes bade me adieu

So calmly and speechlessly they stared at me

And then gradually they went blurry and gone

The thorn that pierced my heart
I couldn't withstand

The Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Puerto Princesa

I covered my face and bowed down

To conceal my tears from the people around
I closed my eyes and said a prayer and then
I looked around and found that I was alone

The shrill sound of the roaring plane was deafening
With broken heart
I found myself sitting on the plane
I knew, for sure, I was getting farther away
From the place I learned to love, my second home

The golden memories of that modest
but beautiful city
Still linger in my mind and deep inside my heart
Both sad and happy, and then I hope and pray
That I can visit her again SOMEDAY!***

I left P.F.A.C. on Saturday, June 20, 1992.

***