It is no wonder
That cockroaches
Fly, party, and thrive
At night

They feast on its darkness
They sway on its shadows
They flap their wings in glory
At night

For the night
Is truly accepting
Inviting, tempting, full of desires
The night welcomes them

In disco lights, in bars, in clubs
In the narrow streets, in the corners
No judgment, only acceptance
In this beautiful, fabulous, avant-garde night

For in the night
Cockroaches can be butterflies
And no one can smack their beautiful drags and make-ups
With the slippers of the day, of that piercing ray

Of reality, of society
That no matter what, for some
Butterflies they may be in their heart, soul, and body
They are still those cockroaches

That party, fly,
And thrive, fabulously
In this young, vibrant,
Freeing, and liberating night

 

 

 

 

Jack Lorenz A. Rivera, 17, is an incoming grade 12 student of Manila Science High School in the Philippines.  He won the Carlos Palanca award, or the “Pulitzer Prize” of the Philippines, and the longest-running and most prestigious literary contest of the Philippines.