life
Temple Tunes
(Philippines)
My pencil was tapping today,
a beat I didn’t recognize at first—
until Manila appeared,
bursting with church bells and jeepney horns.
It raced across the page,
drawing the old stone walls of Intramuros,
where every arch seemed to echo a song.
Then it curved and leapt—
a jeepney appeared,
painted with colors the rainbow had forgotten to keep.
The pencil paused and whispered a secret:
there’s a bamboo organ here,
in Las Piñas—
the only one in the world still singing after 200 years.
I smiled and drew its pipes as slender stems,
each one swaying in invisible wind.
By the time I signed my name,
the city was humming.
Church bells, jeepneys, and pencil strokes—
all keeping time with my heart.
✨ If your pencil could make music, what would it sound like?
Petal Reflections
(Indonesia)
My pencil began to hum again,
a tune that felt like rain on banana leaves.
Then it dipped low,
and Jakarta appeared—
a city busy, beautiful, and breathing stories.
Skyscrapers grew first,
like bamboo shoots after a storm.
Then the pencil softened its step,
drawing the Istiqlal Mosque—
its domes calm, its arches kind.
But a secret floated up with the lines:
just across the street stands a grand cathedral,
and both share the same gate.
Two faiths, one fence—
as if the city had learned how to bow in both directions.
I smiled and traced their reflections
in the puddle below.
My pencil giggled,
“See? Even rain loves peace.”
When I signed my name,
a petal drifted from the sky—
pink, maybe from a frangipani—
and landed softly on the page.
✨ If your pencil could draw peace, what colors would it choose?