last night i whispered my secrets to the mountains and my words were blown away by the winds to that invisible horizon where one cannot know where the sea ends and the sky begins. so that when you held me in your arms all i have is silence, warmth and stillness. and that is all. any more would flail myself across the edge of all reason. because our time ends when one begins to fall.

under subdued breaths i could have told you who i am. but just like everything else, my thoughts must have slid down the slopes where they fell with a muffled thud in the darkness. i wake up in the morning and i am no longer the same. but you-- you are still another's. and i fell for you while you were looking away.

upon descent, i left pieces of me to the slopes and the slopes stick to me through weeds, dust, and pebbles in my shoe. with sweat and pain i know that i was there. but my trails will be forgotten, swept away by the winds and watered down by the rain. perhaps, that's just like how things should be. tomorrow another mountain, perhaps in another arms. by then i cannot go on to where you will be. so go on to your journeys. i'll never know where or when you will come home.

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post-climb notes on mt. gulugod baboy. 4/23-24/05