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I had written this poem way back 1998 when I was in fourth year high school for our school paper. I was awestruck by the fact that I'm going to finish high school and pursue college in another school. I had written this for the purpose of imparting a legacy to the juniors before I graduate, after all, the poem is about leaving and cherishing what you have before you leave. Of course, to a deeper sense, death is the topic of the poem. I sort of, sugarcoated the topic by using the word, life, in the title, and not the other way around, so as not to disappoint the readers. I compared life to a garden, and connected the actual everyday garden activities to death.

This poem is poems within a poem. It is a trilogy of poems actually, by which, each has its own separate meanings but unified message. I employed one of the Japanese' way of writing poems which is the tanka technique. It is very strict when it comes to syllabication. A poem should be composed of five lines only, in which, the first line is composed of 5 syllables, the second line with 7 syllables, the third line with 5 syllables, the fourth line with 7 syllables and the last line with 7 syllables.
This is published in our school paper only. Also, I have not yet entered it in any contests.

Tankas About the Garden of Life
by Jocell Siyangbigay Maranan

I
Everytime I pull
Those stubborn and growing weeds
They keep coming back
Whenever skies cry too hard
So everyday's a workday.

II
If you come to pass
Seeing an orchid yonder
Smell now its fragrance
As long as humans can breath
Because it blooms once a year.

III
Prune those large branches
If you please, Sir Gardener?
So I can pass through
And pick those roses over there
Where are you, Sir Gardener?