Paintings of war in a never abandoned town,
this home resides the stories I have not heard. As
we drove through the lanes of the neighborhood’s
nostalgia, we parked outside a house so scarred,
I realized only homes are never healed by time.
The gates were widely open–inviting–lured us to
an open season. As I was holding my lover’s hand,
I wasn't terrified of knowing that this place has been
a battlefield, but I was enchanted why I mistake each
of this house’s preserved lacerations as beauty. But as
I fall half-awake from the incantation it casted, a deep
voice ran inside my ears. The man greeted “The yard
sale can give you more than what you expect.
Everything is on sale, just name your price.”
I came to my senses and smiled.
I never thought of buying anything but instead
I let my fingers ran through the things the man was
selling. The windows of the man's house were open, the
curtains swayed with the late afternoon wind, and the dusts
danced along the sunset’s rays. I discerned that nothing was
left inside the house. But even if I have seen the emptiness,
I know every space was occupied. I snapped out from
looking over when my lover showed me an unscratched
vinyl of an old artist. “How much would you sell this?” my
voice was cracking from amusement. “Just as I said, name
your price.” I grinned and offered less. To my surprise the
man agreed. The man with flat eyes was cursed by my charm.
I ran my fingers through everything in anticipation I
would find better things. My lover discovered a chest
filled with books buried under the grimy pillow cases.
I asked how much it would cost but the man offered me
the same answers. That moment as I gazed into my lover’s
eyes, we knew something was not right. My lover curled his
eyebrows as he was paying heed of this meandering moment.
“Why are you selling all of these?” My eyes were pinned down
to the man’s mouth waiting for him to answer a question I
should have not asked. After a quite long pause the man said
“I will get us something to drink, you look thirsty. Wait for a while.”
The minutes the man left us, I didn't expect silence could hurt
my ear so bad. I felt every breath inside my lungs rumbling like
waves banging against the big rocks in the coast.
