The Past is in the Light

As I look back into the distant past
I see strains of light
Do you see it glimmering too?

I am standing in the park where we first met
Wrapped by the warmth of your memories

The days of old are long gone
Even so, I wish upon the unseen stars
To the you in the past, present and future
Keep smiling under the morning sun

When the wind blows into my face
I hear it carry your soft voice that I've long forgotten
Will you whisper to me once more?

As I stand in this place where we first met
I slowly recall the little laughs we had
To the you of yesterday, today and tomorrow
Keep living your life to the fullest

And I will continue to wait for you here
Until the day comes when we'll meet again

The Three That Made Me Whole

Writing isn't quite the same as reading, nor it is the same as thinking. I say this because to me, reading and thinking is like a flow of fabric, unobstructed by thoughts, because that is exactly what it is made of. Writing, on the other hand, is dependent on thoughts, but more often than not I find it difficult to write down the exact feelings my heart wishes to share.

The past month has been generous to me- there were three great creations filled with dreams and inspirations and emotions. For me, it was a month of heartfeels. 

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

As the epilogue of Nova Fabula Crystallis, this title brings a close to the journey of the entire Final Fantasy XIII saga, featuring none other than the fabulous Lightning and her companions. As per the title's suggestion, the game is about her journey in the final 13 days of the dying world.

Her only wish is to reunite with her sister, Serah, and stay by her side after being separated by the whims of fate for the longest time. Her one and only Serah. The game is magnificent in such a way that although the title is dedicated to Lightning's battles alone, it forgets not to remind us what friendship means, what it takes to trust,  the perseverance in going through one's choices alone, and mostly, the strength to believe and hope.

"...and in the warmth of another hand holding our own, we will know hope."

The Fault in Our Stars

John Green wrote this brilliantly. Filled with humor and tragedy, the book tells the story of a cancer patient Hazel Grace Lancaster from her point of view and the events that unfolded in her life. It made an impact to me, an eye opener that was always there, that I never bothered to look at, until I read through from page one till the end.

Hazel suffers from Stage 4 Thyroid cancer, with metastasis forming in her lungs. With her parents and doctor plus a few acquaintances to make up her entire circle of friends, things slowly changed when she met Augustus Waters. An experience of joy and love, depression and pain. As they struggle with their own difficulties, they too, contemplated about life and death, about the universe and the questions I never found big until the last flipped page.

Were she better or you sicker, then the stars would not be so terribly crossed, but it is the nature of stars to cross, and never was Shakespeare more wrong than when he had Cassius note, "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars / But in ourselves".

White Album 2

Yet another story that brought me to tears, White Album 2 shines in terms of character development. In fact, I fell in love with one of them. It's a story of how three students, unlikely in the creation of any fabric, pulled together to form a band just weeks before their school festival. Beginning with terrible guitar-playing, the plot then delved into a deeper sense of love with heartbreaks inevitable.

A tale of friendship, love, sacrifice and betrayal- the story is portrayed by Kitahara Haruki, the male protagonist who is sometimes quite dumb, but is sincere in things that he do. He initially plays the guitar, poorly, in one of the music rooms all by himself, but accompanied by a professional pianist whose melodies charmed him from the next room, which later Kitahara came to learn was his classmate- Touma Kazusa. As his previous band being abandoned by most of the members, he then bumped into Ogiso Setsuna, who later became part of the newly-formed band and the vocalist during the school festival performance.

When the two female protagonists developed feelings for our main hero, they realized that one had to make the sacrifice. The story maintains its moments constantly, but things definitely started to escalate after the festival, where the story plots in deeper and explores the theme of love, consequences of lies and ultimately, bidding farewell to the person they most love.

It is touching the way the plot twists amidst each of them trying their very best in their own ways, wishing upon a small yet difficult wish. The choices they made, as told in the anime, could not have been better, and had they pick a different choice, it would only mean them denying their themselves. The decisions made were human, but even so, the hands of fate are ever reaching.

"I've memorized how it (Kitahara's face) looks. I'll never forget it now."