A Poem for Tío Rico and All Those We Long to Know

(Click here to hear it read aloud.)

Originally written, recorded, and posted on Facebook on August 28, 2014

Gone
Are the moments
We could have known
If we’d both shared adulthood.

Gone
Are the answers
To the questions
We could have posed and pondered.

Gone
Are the laughter
And the silence
We could have sweetly savored.

Here
Is the absence
Of your essence, “shame” hidden,
By your brother, my mother.

Here
Is the presence
Of all you were and still are
To me, your wondering kin.

Here
Is the incense,
Your spirit’s sweet aroma
Smoke enfolding my heart’s pain.

Gone
Is the table
Of their misunderstanding
Rejection, judgment, and fear.

Gone
Is the lonely
Isolation caused by sin’s
Cold denial of your love.

Gone
Is the death bed
Where you traveled on alone
What drove your bottle that night?

Here
Is the scandal
Of a heart that longs to know
The secret joys that held you.

Here
Are ears eager
To hear you tell your story,
Understand your art, at last.

Hear
Her prophecy:
Through your lens, see how my path
Wanders and thus honors yours?

We
Are not alone;
To yours, my spirit reaches
Out and celebrates our love.