For the Good Times
written by: Juliet Villar
June 5, 1942, on the bed of dearth
Somewhere in Nueva Vizcaya
Lay down a newborn
Wrapped in a white cloth –
Too dull and unadorned
With the source of his life
Sitting at the ringside
Watching and cheerdancing
As he blew his first breaths –
He was my father.
Born to ordinary couple
Not generously exposed
To amenities of the world
Deprived of a prince’s life
But gifted with a dozen siblings
On whose laughter, his joy rested
Grew up in a small wooden hut
So fragile and prone to wreck
Once the wind ran wild.
Skilled and knowledgeable
Of the teachings of poverty
Yet damn ignorant and naive
of the hearty meals of the rich
His brain was filled more
With words of wisdom from folks
Than his stomach was
With meals from a fine menu.
Chained and perhaps fed up
Of life’s stagnation and privation
He managed to break loose
And tried his luck in the city
Far from the simple life in the province,
Expecting perhaps a greener fate.
There he found his one great love
And his first heartache as well
My mother – the source
of his four bundles of happiness
Yet the cause of his heart’s death.
How can I forget,
That one cold windy night,
In a nasty place mobbed by diff’rent characters?
After his escape from a tied-knot
And lived the life of a rover
Alone and far away from home.
In a small dusty room, I sat on bed
In that humble rented house of Mang Jose
Staring blankly – confused
Getting a taste of life’s vicissitudes
While he was there in the sala – alone
With an old worn-out guitar
That was almost out of tune
Hanging up as his lone companion.
Then I heard the lines –
“Don’t look so sad, I know it’s over”
And from the weeping guitar
One of the saddest tunes I heard!
And listened to – tearfully!
Who will not be hooked by
Perry Como’s “For the Good Times”?
His voice was euphonic and
moving –
Something none of us, his children,
have inherited
Or have been gifted with
But that enchanting song he sang
Inflated my love more for the
gift of music.
Hard to connect with the lyrics
As I was too young to understand
What heartbreak meant
Until time eventually taught me
How it felt to sing the lines:
“Don’t look so sad, I know it’s over.”
Only then did I grip the song
And catch his drift at last
Then finally, after a long road
Of rhythmic ups and downs –
His time had come…
There is much more to rewind
But many of the films
Of our lives together
Were full of regrets –
On my part, I surmise
That I’d rather spill the beans
to God
And ask his and His – –
forgiveness…
- For The Good Times - September 7, 2026
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- The Silent Gun - February 16, 2026
