3am along Makati Avenue

Night brings silence and magic

to empty streets where crosswalks

understand what it means to

keep secrets. Beneath busted

streetlights, we speak candidly

of dreams we’d hesitate to

voice in the harsh daylight hours.

Ours was a friendship that thrived

in the pauses. When we stayed

just past closing time; coffee

gone cold, a paper bag full

of our convenience store spoils.

We will never again sit on those steps.

Not again, outside of these fitful dreams.

—N.

04302024, 11:07am