Ojala {poem}

Ojala

You told me Ojala,

God willing.

God willing you would marry

After the age of twenty.

Sitting with our eighteen-year-old

Toes playing in the dirt.

Thinking of love.

I didn’t understand

Why you said Ojala.

I didn’t understand

The force behind marrying young.

And the fear that comes with it.

But God wasn’t willing.

And I watched my sister

Of the same age

Engage and marry

Within three days.

Watched the tears drop

From my mother’s face

Watched my father’s smile

Turn to stone.

They tried to make you stay.

But you had to go.

And I watched

As you climbed the hill

Disappearing into the distance.

You live with his family now.

You cook and you clean.

You milk their cows

As he works in the city

Arriving home late to sleep

And to wake up early

To repeat the routine.

You are alone.

And you miss home.

Where the lagrimas still flow

In your absence.

But you wont be alone for long

With one on the way.

Ojala, Ojala, Ojala

That you will find the light

Even in the dark crevices of loneliness.