Wrote this several years ago in Sacred Heart Novitiate. My aunt who I called Mommy Nene, had just died of breast cancer after suffering for several months of pain and being in and out of the hospital.

This poem was a way to capture an image in my childhood: when I’d cry, and Mommy Nene would see me, she would hold me in her hands. And every time she does that, I would cry harder- because I felt she was on my side.

In Your Hands
(In Memory of Mommy Nene)

I remembered when I was a whimpering child
And you held me
In your hands.

Your strength gave strength
To my weakness
Love passed from heart
To heart
As you rerouted the tears
From my cheeks to your hands.

Your hands–
They hold laughter and tears
Strength and warmth
Healing and pain
And love.

Your hands–
They’re at it again.

Now they hold tears–
Your tears.
And pain–
Your pain.

I tried to hold you, but it was you who held me
In your hands.
Your weakness gave me strength.

Strange.
It seemed
Your pain only made your heart bigger
Your tears only made love flow
Ever stronger.

I remember that day you held me
In your hands.
And I turn into a whimpering child
Once again.

1) Bread and Fishes
2) Mangyari Lamang
3) The Lady at the Grotto Around 12 Midnight
4) Peter’s Lament