You can bother any woman out there,

Approach them in a good manner

As long as I'm not one of them who you're going to follow,

You're all good and you can just go

You're nice, smart, and wealthy, and I call you 'pretty handsome.'

You really deserve a topnotch woman

Treat her right, don't make her leave

So she can reciprocate what you can give

Don't lie about your feelings towards me

Don't confuse love with sympathy

Even if I'm a charitable case

Don't make me feel that I'm worthy for you to chase

Pretty handsome, just leave and don't look back

I have so many things to finish that you don't have to ask

Pretty handsome, are you blind?

Don't make me hate you even though you're kind.

I can do things on my own, like buy a simple meal,

I don't want to make it seem to you that I owe you anything

I want to make it clear to you,

I like you too and what you did was already appreciated.

If I were in the same league as you,

I might welcome you with wide arms open.

But now, just don't— you don't have to wait for a trash like me.

I don't want to become someone else's burden.

Invest your feelings with someone who can return your good deeds.

***

The story behind this one:

So this is how I came up with this.

This is dedicated to my friend, this is about her. She told me her story when we were colleagues. This friend of mine had low self esteem back then. She requested me to make a poem for her "TOTGA." She also told me that it would be better if I could make it as a song (Demanding, wala namang bayad charot.)

Let's call her, Adelle.

***

Nonverbatim (I rephrased her words):

"This was my message in the form of a poem for a former indirect colleague from my previous work. He's really a gentleman, handsome, and super kind. Not just to me but to everyone. He's all that! Like what you could visualize in a drama.

There came a point when we communicated frequently because our companies were working together on some transactions. We grew closer, but I pulled away when he admitted that he liked me. My immediate thought was, "Pinagti-trip-an ako nito." He was way too attractive to be interested in someone like me. Totally, he's out of my league. So, with those thoughts in mind, I distanced myself. I stopped communicating with him and started dealing directly with his superior, whom I also knew.

He insisted that he was being sincere, but I didn't believe him. I told him I wasn't ready, especially since I had just come out of a breakup. Plus, my financial situation wasn't great at the time, so dating wasn't exactly convenient for me. He didn't take the rejection well, but eventually, he accepted it.

Then the pandemic happened, and we were completely out of touch. According to a mutual friend and former colleague, he's doing fine and now has a girlfriend. Good for him—he found someone who's his match, someone on his level.

He'll never know this is about him. Sometimes, I do have regrets. What if I had taken the risk? What if things had worked out? I liked him way back then, after all. But my doubts about his sincerity got the better of me.

That's it. Goodbye!"

***

Hello Adelle, ito na 'yon. Pero sayang si guy. Sana talaga tinry ninyo baka naman kasi pwede mag-work. Haha, ako na nanghinayang. Dapat nireto mo na lang sa'kin charot!