Do not fear the sunset
Junelie Anthony Velonta
for the darkness that it brings, or sail away eastward tacking on the nameless wind to outrun the setting sun and sink beyond the horizon, past the passing mountain ranges to the open ocean beyond. For no matter how wide the sail or how well-rigged the boat or, like a fine knife through flesh, the hull parts the waves two-fold, the night catches on faster than the wind can blow— distant mountains disappear in the darkness. The voice of the sea becomes your own in this darkness where there is none but you and the wind, whispering its dark will into your ear with visions and sounds to remind that you are alone, that when the winds whip harshly and when the boat is upturned, that your screams out on the open sea will turn to mist and dissipate into the blowing wind and rising waves until the farthest boatman hears no scream but fears the faint whispers in his ear. Though, in the dark, the waves shine silver-white under the moonlit night and with their motion you look up to see the stars dotting the endless darkened sky. As if a guide and by design of the teachings when you sailed at night accompanied by someone wise who knows of ways to read the sky, you remember that the stars have names and like the sun, they rise up East and slowly sail towards the West to slumber there, beneath the sea. Now, there from the East begins to rise the Seven Birds which in their flight ride on up the nameless wind until they reach the other side. By then, you remember that the Seven Birds do not fly every night for when the will of the wind blows otherwise there is no western route that the Birds can fly. As the Seven Birds have a name so too does the only wind that carries them, and thus, the nameless wind was then named by the ancients who have passed: Amihan. And by facing Amihan that blows a cold wind passing by both of your ears, you hear no whispers of dark wishes, instead it is the sail that you hear, catching the wind and gliding like a great wide wing of cloth, facing Amihan as you are and whispering that you are facing North for Amihanan lies before your eyes behind your blindness in the night for that is where the wind blows from and where the stars lie still in the sky. Thus, by sailing East, you know West, and by listening you find North, and as the stars see to your safety that you do not yield to your fears, the dark whispers fade into the wind, replaced by the voice of your sail which speaks where you are and where you face, and you find that the night is silent and in the darkness the stars shine, when you see no evil in the shadows and do not cast your fear into the night, and by braving the night, you learn the way whether it be back or forward, towards the sun or into the night, in flight of fear or to face it, over the sea and under the sky.
Junelie Anthony Velonta was born in Dumaguete City. He graduated from Philippine Science High School—Central Visayas Campus in 2015 and is now pursuing a Physics degree in Silliman University. To this day, he aims to unite his passion for language and the sciences while wondering if sharing Rizal's date of birth is a sign of what he can be.
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