अंकल अल Eighteen

Family Talk Story: Uncle Al Eighteen

The table bows from Banquet buffet
A hundred scents fill the air
Air filled with celebration not sorrow
Celebration of the humble earnest of being
Of a man
Whose dreams painted color
Where bleakness once reigned
A man whose joy traveled the trade winds
Likes explorers on lost horizons

Talk stories and song speak abound
From father to son
Mother to daughter
Stories of tradition honor and faith
A chicken fish delights children
Young and old
The wrinkles fade into gentle smiles
That spread like laughter across the room
Manong pass wisdom from mouth to hand
Ancestors watch from loftier heights
In the realm of legend
They look down with smiles

The Robles tribe sways to memories
Passed across tables like bowls of rice
Dim sum and then sum
The hula dances starts
Our family is bound
By the shackles of love
Honor
Tradition
The song is in your honor
Manong Al
Uncle to the world
Citizen to all that is
All that ever was
Your journey begins where the mortal ends
The cycle infinite in wisdom
Journey forth to the horizon
Where the sun falls behind the ocean
Where the great spirit lays to rest

A hundred faces, all colors now blind
Bind together like the silk of your robe
Into the fabric of being
You join us as one
There are now boundaries only forever
A thousand stories within a bowl of rice
A hundred fates within your cup of tea
Your wealth not measured by silver and gold
We pass the torch of tradition
From father to son
Mother to daughter
We sing your song

The plates fill up with fish and duck
A plethora of color to fill the mind
We raise a glass to you good man
And toast your journey
To worlds unknown