"Mozart: Lacrimosa"

"Mozart: Lacrimosa"
by:
Alessandria Venice R. De leon


I remember when it was all simple
We would play a game and laugh at death
As though it were nothing but a timeout
The present is a different reality
The thought of life ever after
Is soured by awful truths
And a question of reluctance to death
Is not so easily answered
We smile through tears
And pretend we’re fine, as we always do
We pretend we’re happy
While we think of lands we’ll never travel
Or dreams we’ll never fulfill
Now death seems inevitable
Like a looming figure in the dark
Or like a gray cloud that never leaves


I’ll miss you sorely, dear friend
If a virus made by human nature takes you away
From this place, from my arms
If the sickness becomes unbearable
And it causes you misery or pain
I do not want you to suffer
Bid me goodbye with a smile
For we’ve lived our lives as much as we could
Bid me goodbye without sadness
For there’s always life after the next
Try the hardest you can
As you pass me by
Like a ship sunken in the night.



AUTHOR’S NOTE: Hi. It’s me again. This poem holds more of a somber tone and there’s a reason behind that. I’ve recently gotten news that one of my closest friend’s house helpers tested positive for COVID-19 which puts her and her whole family at risk. I love her dearly, and I am terrified of losing her despite her attempts at reassuring me that she is fine. This was supposed to be a poem about hope, but my own thoughts led me to a darker path. Choosing Mozart’s Lacrimosa as the title and piece for this poem only made sense given that Lacrimosa is Latin for “weeping”. Not so fun fact: Lacrimosa is known to be the last piece Mozart wrote before he passed away but he was unable to finish it in time. If ever you decide to give it a listen, keep in mind that anything after the first minute was written by his students. Thank you for reading.

"Rachmaninoff: Vocalise"

"Rachmaninoff: Vocalise"

by:

Alessandria Venice R. De leon

I
You are the melody I live my life by
It is you who fills in the blanks
And the one who completes my phrases
You’re the music that penetrates the lonely silence of life
You give this plain world its colors


II
You are the peaceful resolve after a long day
And yet you are the tension
You give me no ease
It’s a feeling worse than stage fright
It’s a crashing fall, a dangerous tide
A low rumbling deep inside
It’s something akin to a grand crescendo
And yet I still crave for more


III
My heart soars when I hear that ever beautiful sound
Untainted and clear as day
Unrestrained and as free as a galloping horse
It resonates and sings from within
Your violin or your voice
It does not matter, it is you I want to hear


IV
I would gladly live my life on this stage
If only to stay with you for eternity
Making music as we do
For there is no sweeter sound
Than the sound of us two
Every duet echoes deeply in my soul
And stays forever.


V
While my fingers grace these ivory keys
And yours dance across that ebony board
We look to each other
For a split second I know you understand
You hear all that I desire to say
The hidden meaning in between the notes,
The frightened question I hope you’d answer,
And most of all,
You hear the love I could never say in words.



AUTHOR’S NOTE: Hello, dear reader! I know it’s been a while, but you can blame my fickle muse for that. As you can see above, the title is a piece of classical music by Sergei Rachmaninoff. I highly recommend you give it a listen. I’ve found myself quite interested in classical music, its history, and music theory as of late. In fact, I’m even studying violin by myself :)

The whole idea of writing a poem to read while listening to a piece was greatly inspired by Antonio Vivaldi. You may know him for composing The Four Seasons.

In Amsterdam in 1725, Vivaldi’s pieces were accompanied by poems describing exactly what feature of a season he wanted to capture in a musical way. I’ve taken a cue from the Italian composer by creating story poems based solely on the emotion a piece gives me when I listen to it. This means that the stories I assign to certain pieces may not be the original story the composer intended to tell. They are my own.


If you like this type of content from me, then don’t worry! I fully intend on making this a series :)

"Delusional Us."

"Delusional Us."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

We are winning. We beat the predictions. We are winning.

And yet with all the deaths and all the cases how does it not feel like a win? Because it is not. It is but a false sense of security that the numbers cannot truly show.  I believe we have won when we can safely vaccinate our most vulnerable , when the cases have dwindled to zero with no cases emerging and strict measures are just something that we do out of the ordinary.

When we can safely see our kids go to school without fearing that they are carrying the virus with them back home unknowingly or creating a worse strain as they continue to interact with each other.

When we stop lying to ourselves that this will get better just by doing nothing. That we are not connected to what the other person is doing. This will not end well for those who do not heed the advise. Nor for those around them.

No sir we are not winning. We are drowning and the solution being offered is to keep drowning.