She had walked along Beach Road late one afternoon,
\nUpon the blue Marianas waters shone the translucent moon,
\nThe scene hasn\u2019t changed much: the wharf, the bench, the tree
\nAnd neither have the winds across the Philippine Sea
\nAs she sat on the bench, Norfolk pines touched the sky
\nthe tide seemed much stronger than on evenings gone by
\nHe approached with the breeze, and at much the same pace
\nand both lifted her spirit as she lifted her face
\nHis smile, she recalls, sparkled with twinkling grace
\nThat smile hasn\u2019t changed since she first saw his face
\nIn his eyes were a magic like stars shooting through the sky
\nBroad shoulders. Strong physique. Deep long sigh.
\nHe uttered no words, but his loneliness peeked through
\nHer eyes, too, spoke of pain forever connecting the two
\nThe evening was silent, as they sat side by side
\nJust the moon up above, and the breeze, and the tide
\nShe would glimpse him in Garapan. A moment of glad.
\nThough she still bore the pain of the thoughts she once had
\nLooking back on the years even when islands apart
\nNothing ever lessened the flame from that auspicious start
\nTomorrow that moon will seem a world far away
\nshe\u2019ll remember Beach Road and that warm fateful day
\nIn that same open space where they forgave and they\u2019ll forget
\nA new dream and a new start as they watch the sunset
\nOne more glimpse at the skies, and the moon seems much bolder
\nThe tide is getting closer, the air seems much colder
\nTimes have changed. Things will never be like that day
\nbut love defies the odds and the curse of being away.<\/p>\n
Riza Oledan-Ramos (Special to the Saipan Tribune)<\/strong> She had walked along Beach Road late one afternoon, Upon the blue Marianas waters shone…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[92],"class_list":["post-313857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-commonwealth-health-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313857\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nRiza Oledan-Ramos is a hemodialysis nurse at the Commonwealth Health Center and author of The Boy Who Dreamed to Be With His Parents on Saipan, Germstopper Boy, and Drinking Seawater (A Typhoon Soudelor Memoir).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"