Poem | Papa's Morning

 Papa's Morning

By Eddlynn Jennifer Mangaoang

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I woke up at five in the morning

before the breaking dawn, silently walking

down the hallways toward the shadowed kitchen

Flicking the light switch to bring in

warm glow and heat the water for my coffee

Bringing out the cooking pan to cook

fried rice and eggs and bacon

Or anything my oldest daughter's preferred breakfast

Mashed potatoes or oatmeal

Then I ought to watch the news, so I open the T.V.

Filipino news, because I have no need for an American one

Facebook can give that news to me

I would turn the volume low, just enough for me to hear

The two are still asleep

Then I would leave the T.V on 

and go to the backyard, and again,

the hen pooped on the floor of the back porch

clucking in the morning asking for chicken feed

I gotta water my plants with last night's

dishwashing water and turn on the faucet and drag

the hose and spray all over my sugarcanes and guava and oranges

And there I saw the hen's eggs

I worry rats would eat it again, so I might need to bring it in

And at around 8 am, my girls started coming out from 

their rooms and they would say, "Good morning, papa"

And they would kiss my cheeks

before getting their plates

and they are loud and so I turn up the volume

and I listen to them giggled to things I don't understand

And I heard one of them shouting from her room

Not of fright but with excitement

and I was left bewildered while sitting on the

leathered seat they called "papa's throne"