Lumsok

One of my earliest recollections as a child was my first trek to Lumsok, a mountain overlooking the barrio from where my parents hailed from. At that time, you may well consider me as a bootlicker, never letting my parents out of my sight even for a minute. Going back, I was ecstatic they decided to bring me along with them though it took them a lot pain telling me to reconsider. It was more like an hour-long trek along a spring-fed brook flowing from the foot of Lumsok. As we moved upstream, the scenery changes are very much noticeable. There were no more houses to be found. The clearings gave way to bushes, then later on to ferns and mosses. The trees gradually became taller, its trunks becoming broader. One could no longer hear any sound of modernity, but instead listen to the water running through rock crevices, the steady cicadas’ chirps and once in a while, bird squeaks. It was actually a breathtaking sight due to its pristine environs. The place was so remote that one can actually think that it is you alone that exists. Traversing through the brook is a trick in itself since the rocks to be threaded on are slippery, the water is sometimes waist-deep and one has to be wary of snakes bathing in the cool waters. We would stop occasionally to marvel at the bluish-green pools of the brook, the water so clear that you would surmise that it is just waist-level when in fact it is much deeper than that. That isolation made me cringe with fear, but my parents were there reassuring me that there is nothing to be afraid of. As my father and mother go old, I too have grown and gone older. It is now my time to reciprocate... to tell my papa and mama... I won't let go. I am here to stay...