Memoirs of an Amnesiac

I had the chance to dine at a bayside bistro last night, overlooking the sea before me. While waiting for our orders to be cooked, an assortment of barbecued chicken feet they fondly called "Adidas," chicken liver and chorizo, I had a chance to look at the sky before me that is filled with stars. I have come to wonder how the stars seem to be just within my reach, when back in Cebu, the stars seem unreachable. Then it hit me that it was the first time I actually saw the sky clear that night since I arrived in Bislig, Surigao del Sur.

I went on to search for the moon. It has become my habit to check on whether there is a moon to predict any inkling of rain. But last night, there was none. Then my thoughts wandered to musings about the moon (this while the barbecue was still getting consumed by the almost died out embers of charcoal).

I remembered in class how I had cited many connotations of the moon as metaphors for that poem I discussed. I don't recall the exact lines of the poem now. All I recalled was that a student, after having transferred to another school still remembered our discussion on it. My meeting with that student had made more impression than our actual discussion in class about the poem.

The moon, in some old folklore, has been used to determine the seasons for fishing, harvest, weather, rituals and even the time to wean babies. In some areas, they actually have a ritual to bring the moon back when it is eaten by the "bakunawa," some local term for that differently colored set of clouds that try to hide the moon. (This I learned when an aunt who lived far south told me their old folklore.)

In poetry, the moon could mean a witness to one's effort at expressing love, as when one man, professes, "If you will say 'yes' to me, I will give you the moon in exchange for your 'yes.' That is probably the reason they say it is nice to be with someone under the moonlight or when couples who just got married call it "honeymoon." There are a lot of allusions to the moon as there are many ways to express love.

The expression begging for the moon, on the other hand, may mean trying to get the affection of (if it is a person) or constantly aiming for (if it has something to do with achievements) something that is impossible to reach. When a lover is beset with the struggle of trying to prove his love to his recipient of affection, he tries his best to prove himself and refers his efforts as begging for the moon (especially when his affections are unrequited).

I wonder whether a lover is begging for the moon on that night while my barbecued dinner is about to get charred.