Mode of Transport: in the infinite foot steps of ma grand-mère/ les pas infinis de ma grand-mère
Beautiful memories
Des beaux souvenirs
Of days spent last year
Le temps est passé mais jamais oublié
In grand-mère’s hometown
Où elle a enduré des choses traumatiques
That lasted pendant toute sa vie
Night terrors followed her to a new life in suburban Chicago
Flashbacks of teenage youth stolen by
Circonstances difficiles et extrêmes
Fear
La peur
que je ne peux pas imaginer
Those heavily observed foot steps of seized youth
While beloved neighbors and childhood friends were taken from her community
She never spoke much about it
But after she died,
I knew everything I needed to know
Through the tears
Les larmes profondes
That fell during my last visit with her sister, ma tante
Two sisters who held each other close
While a third was too young to comprehend
There is no sense in trying to write poetry or attempt to retell
Something je ne peux pas imaginer
But I know that if I had a sister, I would hug her tight.
At midnight last year, in my rented apartment in grandma’s hometown
I opened the window
Alone
And exhaled for her as best I knew how: