top of page

Capiz-Shell Windows

Windows in Balayan ConradoABogayong.jpg

(Or: Windowpane Oyster )

 Windows in Balayan by Conrado A. Bogayong

Nothing can show you the essence

Of translucence but these tiny and

Multiple squares of light in the shuttered

 

Siesta of our childhood. Embargoed

By Grandmothers for the afternoon nap,

For their own post-prandial peace,

 

We drowsed into complete oblivion,

Submitting to the imposed shut-eye

No mother or elder sister could violate.

 

Cavorting was held in abeyance,

Everyone was exhorted with the forefinger

Held close to the lips: Sigh or Shush!

 

And the house in this interior half-light

Was at peace: Under the somnolent stare

Of capiz-shell one drowsed into complete

 

​

Oblivion. It was no mystery. The lulling

Magic of katipay*  was in its being 

“Windowpane oyster”―the slurp or 

 

The yawn glided over the mother-of-pearl―

Each a frame of cured and flattened 

Placuna, with the luster and half-glisten 

 

Of a dragonfly wing quivering among

Petals and the filigree of twigs. Such was 

Our siesta reverie, our half-waking dreams

 

Behind windows of capiz, where we were

Pixie and fairy flitting and prancing in a lush 

Garden, where  the light was always iridescent.

 

 

Marne Kilates

6 July 2020; rev. 12 July 2021; 11 November 2021

​

*Bikol term for capiz

bottom of page