Because a Woman Lived

By Liliana Guadalupe

We are here because they survived.
I was born with dark skin and thick hair,
Because a woman lived.

I am a piece of thread that became loose
Because someone traveled far.

We resemble people we will never know,
Speak languages they never understood
Eat food that was recently created,
And travel places they did not know existed.

Time is not gentle with those who lived
As time passed,
Wars were made,
And history erased some of us.

We would never know their name or their face.
It doesn’t quite matter,
As if they hadn’t been,
We would have never become.

Now they will only live on with me
The one who will share their music, and their stories,
To the rest of us there would ever be.

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Guest poetry written by Liliana Guadalupe. Liliana was born and raised in San Diego. when she is not writing she spends her time studying languages. She is currently working on putting together her first collection of poems.

Photo by Jennifer Floyd.