FOR OSCAR

we were Jesuits seminarians before
( twenty five years ago to be exact)
just a few of us chosen ones from the islands.

one was named Oscar (not his true name)
from Batanes (not the real place)

with his square jaw and dark brown complexion
and well chiseled muscular body, at first impression,
one can say that the Jesuits will be lucky
to have such a good catch.

A rare fish.

he is the silent type. A few words will always do
for the rest of his day. Another word, and he will not
listen anymore.
I suspect he has hatred for verbosity.

Break. ( a little sigh)

We had our thirty-day ignatian retreat in Baguio
top of the Lourdes grotto.
The worst cold did not affect him a bit.
I envied him with my tremblings.

He wrote poems but did not share them.
He loved his privacy.
I felt shortchanged after he read mine.
I was verbose and he ignored
my overindulgence.

In the middle of the retreat, something terrible happened.
Oscar screamed like a siren at midnight.
The retreat master panicked thinking that somebody was raped.

We could not figure out the real reason.
He could have told us in a manner that was understandable.
The retreat master was a decent liar.

White lies are acceptable as forgivable sins.

The retreat master did not explain but he had
a conclusion:

Oscar must leave the seminary at once.

He needs to be shaken some more outside the walls.
It will be good for him and for everyone.
The society will surely miss him.

His absence will leave us in painful doubt.
It will be surely enigmatically educational.
Whatever that means. I still do not know.

I suspect, Jojo ( his real name) knew the pretty answer
very well. But i did not dare ask him.

(Revise: I suspect Jojo knows the answer pretty well.)
But he is in crisis too until he got married to an ugly woman
but with a beautiful body.
Boobs he really liked much better
than the brain and the face

To me, everything that pretends to be misty, will always
be obvious.

I love crystal balls.

The pine trees will still be pine trees
when the heavy fog
disappears

gently drifting away from the mountains where
we retreated.