Talking Iwth A Stranger Poem by RIC BASTASA

he says he is in china
teaching, then he says
not teaching only,
he is researching on the
roots of language,
mandarin he speaks
and bisaya too,
a man of the world
from the island
where i live
and call
home,
he is a stranger and i tell him my name, my work,
i show myself with what i write and he takes time to read all
until
he sees something wrong and he corrects it,
my choice of words
my spelling, the do's and dont's in poetry in writing a letter to a friend
in composing an eulogy
a song of departure
a poem of regret, the last thing he says was that he once fished
and that the sea has become his home, and then
i knew him, but i will not tell him who he is.

it is enough that we have become friends.