David Bonifacio

I pass the graves both old and new
Spread in a garden no longer kept
Trampling on grass, dead flower beds
Watered only when someone wept

There are no dark ghosts, no phantoms
Just a thousand memories
Lost on its way to mind
Evaporated with drying tears

I feel the burdens fall from my back
I feel my role fulfilled
Now I climb this uphill track
I sow in soil untilled

Oh, the former things and former attractions
Barely does compare,
To the coming glories and coming beauty
For those who choose to dare

Oh, this brand new day
Rises on a solitary valley
As most have stayed content
In the dark material alley

So many choose to exalt the “I”
And all the “I” feels
Help me choose to sacrifice
Help me not be like the hungry one who steals

The stairs to heaven
Begin with descent to brokenness
The slope to hell
Starts with the ascent of self