A Message to the Daughters of Immigrants

by Rosemary Santos

Dear Sister,

When you wake,

Day after day,

And you find yourself weary,

Remember that the loads you carry

Are not just your own,

But of those that came before you.

You carry the weight of your history.

The visceral knowing

That you were taken from,

That you were taken,

That you were silenced.

You carry the feelings of foreignness,

The heaviness of melancholy and yearning for home.

The weight of loss,

The heaviness of hopes and cancelled dreams.

You carry the weight of absence,

Of lingering disappointment.

You bear the heaviness of questions,

Of wondering, what if? And why did he leave?

And day after day you hurry,

You hurry to meet the expectations

That others have set for you.

To honor the voyage,

To honor the loss.

The regret?

Dear Sister,

Today, as you wake,

Inhale.

Be in awe of all that you have done

And the woman you have become.

Though you carry a heavy load,

Recognize you are still here.

Alive,

Awake,

Upright.

And what a miracle that is.

This poem was original published on Medium by Rosemary Santos.