And On Another Day...

Día de los muertos

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by Abelardo B. Delgado

 

 Renacen los huertos,

también los muertos.

El día de los muertos

por siete minutos

podemos platicar

con los seres queridos fallecidos

 

I  remember

 

tagging along

chasing my abuela

to el camposanto

to sell paper flowers

to make the somber tombs bright

That was back in Mexico

I was only seven years old.

Here in the U.S.

los muertos

are persona non gratas.

Here we do not wish

to hold dialogue

with los muertos

They remind us

we too

will eventually join them.

Here there is no luto

and there are no novenas

or puños de tierra

Here in the U.S.

the idea is to hide,

to ignore the dead

and to even avoid death

in our conversations.

in Mexico la muerte

is well known.

She’s la talaca, a feminine figure.

Our Puerto Rican

brothers and sisters

Call her “la flaca.”

Talking with the dead is necessary

to remind ourselves

to enjoy our lives

and not to go about

as if we already died

and no one said good-bye or cried.