To Cebu

A network of green veins

On a giant, verdant heart.

Chocolate pathways encircle

The patchwork below.

Cebu approaches.

 

Gentle clouds shimmer beneath

As undulating rills,

Rippling mountains,

Punctuated now by clouds,

Roll beneath the airplane.

 

A town emerges,

Hugging the shoreline.

Humanity sprawls

At the island’s edge.

 The Pacific,

Calm once more,

Floats beneath,

Rippling,

Reflecting the azure sky.

 

Wings down, the metal bird

Prepares to land,

To rest once more

On Cebu.

*written on a flight to Cebu Island in the Philippines when Thomas and I visited there in 2019.