For this poem I had to connect a topic from Shakespear to my own life. I chose to write about my mom because my topic is about love. I look forward to reading your comments!
The Universe Within Us
Ever since
you left the sanctuary
of your home,
Gunshot after gunshot
Scream past your ear
But all you do is run.
You run and run because although half of you
Is trembling with fear,
And dripping with tears,
The other half of you wants nothing more
But to hear the cries of tu primera hija
At least once more
before the tears of being separated from the arms that once held her and blocked the dangers of the world out
Become deeper with the pain the other half of the world has to offer
Before,
The border splitting the earth,
Splits you too.
You haven’t stopped running since.
The borders haven’t stopped splitting your body either.
Sideways, upwards, downwards.
Parts of you filled with fear,
Some filled with shame,
And yet another filled with the spanish you’ve learned to silence
Because something about the sharpness of your tongue
And the thickness of your accent
Brings out the bravery beneath the cracks,
The wholeness beneath the broken,
And the beauty hidden by the hate.
Y todos sabemos,
That borders cant stand
If there’s something stronger and taller
Capable of breaking them down.
You haven’t stopped running since.
Parts of you running with the brightness within you
Trying to drive out the darkness that surrounds you,
Trying to close up on you
Just like all the other borders
orbiting around you.
You haven’t stopped running since,
Trying to get ahold of the world
That was taken from your hands
By hateful eyes,
And too many people
Forcing your nights
To be filled with cries.
You’re trying to get ahold of the world that was once in your hands
Just to give it to me.
Because despite the tornados spiraling inside my body
And the black hole in my mind trying to to grab on to any negative thought
That brings out the darkness in my eyes,
All you see is the sun,
The planets orbiting it,
And the stars that decorate the universe with the light you believe I deserve to feel instead.
Ama,
You see the light in the world
And inside me too.
Ama, when will you stop running?
When will you let us finish for you?
When will you realize that the world
You want to get ahold of
Is already inside of me
Because it’s inside you too.