Dream Big

Just when you gave up hope in trying to understand the youth today, a surprise comes your way.  In my case, it is my nephew, Luis Meland Yuchengco, a 12-year old golf and basketball enthusiast who communicates with his friends through poetry and challenges them to "dream big" to achieve their goals.
 
Luis is the youngest son of my youngest brother, Tito, and his wife, Marit. He studies at Beacon School in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig.  Tito says Luis is a very sweet boy.
 
I am sharing this with our readers.  Not only am I so proud of Luis, but so much has been happening to our world lately that have left us devastated and depressed, and it is important to focus on what matters most -- our youth and our future. - Mona Lisa Yuchengco

Every kid does it
Whether it’s coaching a team
Or flying to space,
We all dream.

Some dream of being teachers or poets,
Politicians or preachers
but I, I dreamed of basketball.

Three years old,
ball in hand and my arms to the sky, 
I wanted to be, Kobe in mid-air
soaring for the dunk
Tongue out,
Defying gravity.

I dream big.

Like the kids who
wanted to be Shaq in the paint
Or Larry in the fourth.

Like those who
Empty their piggy bank to cop a pair of J’s
Or maybe a, hoodie jacket to, look more sway,

Or the boy on the bench who
Scans the game from the sidelines
Waiting for the coach to,
call his name.

I tell myself to
Dream big because that is what fuels me
This is what I love
This is all above
A kid who dreams
He Isn’t what he seems, 
He’s born with a chance:
to be the guy who the stadium roars for.

Dream big, but know
You gotta work to be a legend
To be the next Old man riverwalk the,
Best to play the game the,
One and only greatest the,
Wonderchild of the NBA

Because if that is who you are then be it
who cares about what they say?
Because when you take aim
that willpower will burn flames
Under your skin

Dream big because on that court
You are an uncaged animal,
You are Spartacus,
Swinging your sword towards the other side of dome
You are David, slaying the Goliath,
You have the heart of a lion.
You walk as god amongst men.

But some days it’s like I just can’t move forward
Some days I’m just a boy.
Some days
I can’t move mountains, 
Or break rocks
Or soar across the sky like a hero.
Some days I’m rooted to the ground
The broken pieces of my bravery left unfound.
See these dreams used to lift me up
Made me feel like I was immortal
Like, I was the greatest
And that, I was unstoppable
But it’s like I just lost the interest
It used to feel like I had the globe In my palm
Just spinning on my index
But this changes, doesn’t it?
Maybe I'm buggin’
One day, I love it,
The next day I’m saying I hate it

But still, that resonant refrain rings:
dream big.
So I step on stage
Hear the crowd with their crazy cries,
See the fans and their faces with their eyes open wide
And that little voice in my head whispers
“Ay, you got this”
Then I black out,
All I hear is shouts and screams and a church’s choir
Walking through a circle of burning fire Like a circus tiger,
Ready to roar.

See,
I can’t control what these dreams bring to me
But I do know this:
If you want to shoot high in life,
You gotta dream big.