Papa, Tell Me Are You Happy Somewhere? by Michelle Ayon-Navajas

Photo by Valerie Jane De Lara/ Model: Jawline Pebres

Papa, Tell Me Are You Happy Somewhere?

by Michelle Ayon-Navajas
site: https://michnavs.wordpress.com/

you taught me to be brave in the most unconventional way ever
not by fairy tales bedtime stories nor by Aesop’s fables after lunch
i remember you saying “be brave my little princess”
i wasn’t really sure what you meant when you told me the story of robbers who travel by sea, swashbuckling and daring
they were often evil and brutish
i began to hide underneath my pillow as
i anticipated you to unravel the next
scariest, mind-blowing, out of this world bloody fight scene, but to my surprise,
 “fear not my little one”
then you continue to tell
most of them were ordinary people
who had been forced to rob to make ends meet
you see, the world is not an easy place to live
some are lucky, some are not
then you ended by saying
«be brave like a pirate, just forget the part to which he robs to eat; it is never accepted”
then we would laugh and laugh until
tears fall down,
“be brave my little princess like a pirate
in the sea at night, be brave…”
ahhh, that was a long time ago
how long has it been? so long i believe
Papa, if you can hear me, let me tell you this
i grew up to be brave like a pirate
braver even in the presence of fear
so Papa tell me are you happy somewhere?
your little princess has turned out to be
the bravest, most compassionate queen
you’ve always wanted her to be.

Papa tell me are you happy somewhere?

@Michelle Ayon-Navajas

Michelle, authored five books “After – Rain Skies: A Million Stars” for Perak Women for Women Society (PWW), Ipoh, Perak Malaysia during their One Million Stars To End Violence campaign,  “What If Snowflakes Don’t Fall In Winter”, “Oh, Dear One!”, “I Would Fly To Where You Are”, and her Amazon best-selling poetry book “ I Will Love You Forever, Too”

Graduated with a Master of Education majoring in English in the Philippines, (University of San Agustin, Iloilo City). Michelle was a former college professor, teaching literature, speech & oral communication, creative writing, drama, and theatre arts. She is also a graduate of Mass Communications major in Journalism (Centro Escolar University, Manila).

She is published author at Spillwords NYC, where her poems “What If Snowflakes Don’t Fall in Winter?”, “Kiss”, and “Love Dance” were all nominated as publication/post of the month for July 2020, August 2020 and May 2021 respectively. Her poem “Again” is published on three platforms, on MEDIUM -an  International Writers and Readers Space, AFRICA WRITERS CARAVAN, and at WOMAWORDS LITERARY PRESS In June 2021. Some of her poems were also published in other international literary magazines and journals.

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