Fronteras

Gary S. Rosin

January 21, 2024

Crossing the border,
it is so hard to forget
things you left behind,

to keep the past from hiding
the path your feet now follow. 

You still remember
your mother in her grave,
back in your village,

the butterfly that haunted
the church during her Mass—

it seemed her spirit
lingered to watch over
her sons and daughters,

give them strength to walk alone
the journeys of their lives. 

But your path leads you
away from your village,
your mother’s grave,

across the border, too far
to bring ofrendas for her

on Dia de Los Muertos.

Gary S. Rosin’s work has appeared in Chaos Dive Reunion (Mutabilis Press 2023), Concho River Review, MacQueen’s Quarterly, Sulphur River, and Texas Poetry Calendar, and elsewhere. He has two chapbooks, Standing Inside the Web (Bear House Publishing 1990), and Fire and Shadows (Legal Studies Forum 2008).