September Stargazer Lilies by Chris Lim (17, Philippines)

I rinse my cold hands 
on the gentle shores 
of Punta Fuego,
feeling a rush 
of last summer 
coming in
and ebbing away. ​

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I waited till autumn
to scour through 
the sand for hours,
the footprints and 
handprints we made 
half-eaten by the ocean 
the water, waiting for you to 
unearth yourself, 
to find nothing but 
a blistering wind of stargazer lilies 

the fallow September, blooming late, 
I would have pinned in your hair
thickets of fescues; a gladiolus
bound within you.
but as I wait for another
calyx to blossom in July
all I’m left with are
the shoes my fingers buried 
into the ocean
in muddles of dirt.

so I rinse my cold hands, 
on the gentle shores 
of Punta Fuego - 
now I know,
the waves we used to 
watch until dawn 
have flooded you clean.