Cristina A. Montes
Side by side on Monobloc chairs,
my husband and I watch fireworks.
Around us, grandchildren scream,
point at the sky,
and jump up and down
in ecstasy, and in belief
that jumping at the stroke of twelve
on New Year’s Eve
makes you grow taller.
I’m happy,
but I’m too old to jump.
And after eighty-three years
of jumping at the stroke of twelve
on New Year’s Eve,
I should know now
that it doesn’t work.
Cristina A. Montes currently works in the Philippine Supreme Court. She graduated A.B. Humanities Specializing in Philosophy from the University of Asia and the Pacific in 1997 and Bachelor of Laws from the University of the Philippines in 2005.
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