From Mom And Dad

It's not the child's fault
Let them break open their gifts
We are masters of our fates
And while some argue we carry our parent's burdens
I say we go where we please,
Willingly.

No one ever told me to come here
To get away from there
Or to choose love over reason.
I did it all by myself.

I always wanted to see the snow
My mother was born by the jungle,
My father from the desert
Both whom crossed rivers and terrains to get me here.

Maybe I am like them a little bit
The determination, the perseverance
The hunger to keep going, to more than survive,
To make it.

To work hard not just for my dollar
But for those who will come after me.
They made no excuses, and they left me with none for myself.
Even they, are not an excuse.

So while I whimper with longings for their sun
To melt my cold
I remember what brought me here:
Me.

And this future, this hope to do something greater
in a place that runs against me
Is perhaps the best gift they ever gave me.
The gift of being able to give something
to myself.

-Noemi E. Garcia Rigsby

To: Mom and Dad With Love. Thank you.