Thank you, Dr. Dimalanta

It was time for poetry reading at De La Salle University. You came quietly and walked slowly to your seat (with the usual dignity I had known in more than two decades), with your nurse behind you. I felt a pain stab my heart, knowing that soon we might lose you.

Somebody else read your poem, but my eyes were on you as you sat motionless, expressionless amidst a crowd that tried to comprehend your verses as always. We gave you a standing ovation, and you acknowledged it with a forced smile that was too painful for me to look at. I wanted to speak with you and thank you for being my patient professor and thesis adviser at the University of Sto. Tomas, for introducing me to Bienvenido Santos (whose messages didn't really get to me until I moved to North America). I wanted to thank you for your passion for literature which inspired me to pursue graduate studies at DLSU. (But now I doubt my own passion as I switched to Special Education.) I wanted to thank you for "Montage" which we could hardly comprehend then. But the crowd was thick, and I didn't want you to get exhausted by this event and compliments. And now my deep sorrow and regret...
Jamison/11/13/2010