Thirty-one years ago today,
The other end of the world
Stung as if we were looking
Directly into the sun;
Since then we learned
To look at the sunlit ground.
*
On this day, we send our love
To those who are scaling the wall,
Those who are stepping
On a precarious raft,
Those who are hiding
In the boxes stacked on a truck:
We know it isn’t play or malice
That make you take this road.
On this day, we send our love
And our hope that you will land
As we did, on the verdant earth
Among welcoming people.
*
The ground has fallen
From under you, we know,
Just like the road vanished
From under our feet.
On this day, when we recall
Those first days of freedom
We send you our love: for
You will need every kind word.
November 17, 2020, on the anniversary of my family’s immigration to America
Carmen Bugan 