Song for America XXI (Memorial Day memory)
Fernando Esteban Flores
March 7, 2022
Say adiós so long
Jesús Rosalio Roberto Leόn
Father tíos friends
Others of our honored dead
Shields of my early life
Buried underneath the vast Texas skies
Each wrapped in the flag of country
Fought for de todo corazón—all heart
Believing it would give you
Some hope a place to start
Living out that scene cited in those
Spartan classrooms of your American youth
Thó not readily received
In the land of your own birth
Of humble second-class worth
By virtue of the palette your skin
You ground your fingers in &
To the bone to stake your place
Among the jagged stripes & sweeping stars
Looking down the long barrel of
Battles you gave your innocence for
Green & wet behind the ears
What did you know of world affairs
Behind your brown & scrawny frames
Young boys barely men from small
Pueblitos dusty little South Texas towns
Off you went odds against to test your verve
& back you came shaken yet undeterred
Each one having braved the worst
That men can do to other men in war
The first of families to have
Dared risk the only goods
You had to barter with
& then pull off the improbable
& moved the rest of us a little further
Up to dream bigger than before
I listen for the meaning now
As mournful Taps
Bugles out its measured notes
Of unmeasured pain
Across the nation’s
Hallowed grounds
Fort Sam Laredo
San Fernando Arlington
Where you lie in state
This remembered day
Knowing you gave your best
As men can do
I honor you thó long past due
Father uncles dearest friends
May we meet again
As we were meant
So long I say adios
Fernando Esteban Flores is a native son of Tejas, graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. Published three books of poetry: Ragged Borders, Red Accordion Blues, & BloodSongs available through Hijo del Sol Publishing. Published in multiple journals, reviews, newspapers, and online sites. Selected in 2018-19 by the Department of Arts & Culture of the City of San Antonio, with support from Gemini Ink for his poem Song for America V (Yo Soy San Antonio) as one of 30 poems/poets to commemorate the City’s Tricentennial anniversary. Recently named poetry editor of the Catch the Next Journal of Ideas & Pedagogy.
