It has become my habit this summer vacation to check my Facebook account for updates. Today, I got messages in my inbox and was happy to see a message from my Philosophy teacher, Mr. Nonoy Tomacruz. He sent me a poem and told me it was his graduation gift. I read through it and it made my day. :) Starting my day by reading this poem brought some inspiration: that I should live my life to the fullest. Thank you Sir Nonoy for the poem. :)
The Puppet
Gabriel Garcia-Marquez
If for a moment God would forget that I am a rag doll and give me a scrap of life, possibly I would not say everything that I think,
but I would definitely think everything that I say.
I would value things not for how much they are worth but rather for what they mean.
I would sleep little, dream more.
I know that for each minute that we close our eyes we lose sixty seconds of light.
I would walk when the others loiter; I would awaken when the others sleep.
I would listen when the others speak, and how I would enjoy a good chocolate ice cream.
If God would bestow on me a scrap of life,
I would dress simply, I would throw myself flat under the sun,
exposing not only my body but also my soul.
My God, if I had a heart,
I would write my hatred on ice and wait for the sun to come out.
With a dream of Van Gogh I would paint on the stars a poem by Benedetti,
and a song by Serrat would be my serenade to the moon.
With my tears I would water the roses,
to feel the pain of their thorns and the incarnated kiss of their petals...
My God, if I only had a scrap of life...
I wouldn't let a single day go by without saying to people I love, that I love them.
I would convince each woman or man that they are my favourites and I would live in love with love.
I would prove to the men how mistaken they are in thinking that they no longer fall in love when they grow old
--not knowing that they grow old when they stop falling in love.
To a child I would give wings,
but I would let him learn how to fly by himself.
To the old I would teach that death comes not with old age but with forgetting.
I have learned so much from you men....
I have learned that everybody wants to live at the top of the mountain without realizing that true happiness lies in the way we climb the slope.
I have learned that when a newborn first squeezes his father's finger in his tiny fist, he has caught him forever.
I have learned that a man only has the right to look down on another man when it is to help him to stand up.
I have learned so many things from you,
but in the end most of it will be no use because when they put me inside that suitcase, unfortunately I will be dying.
