A Woman Lies Dying In Mexico Poem by gina prettybrowneyes

Unnoticed by the rest of the world, she
Never held any real interest for you either
You passively accepted her as one among many of your mother’s
Charity cases who spoke little English

She was merely a face- seen vacuuming your living room, holding your brothers, or cooking your meals.
A face “we had to make sacrifices for” because
“she didn’t have as much as we had and we shouldn’t be selfish”

You grudgingly invited the woman’s shy, awkward daughter
To your birthday party as per your mother’s orders
You made stunted small talk with her and the other daughter while
The woman and your mother talked finances and job opportunities

She was just another Spanish-speaking, hard-working, kind face
That came and went through your pre-teen life
Unimportant and fleeting
You moved East. She stayed behind. Three years passed.

~

Today you learn she has terminal cancer
And is with her mother who is also dying
They wait together in Mexico

Your own mother walks up to you ghostlike and world-weary
She tells you and all who will listen
This woman’s story:

She came to America to support her husband who was getting
His master’s degree
He left her, forcing her to find a source of income for her two little girls

As all women in need seem to, she found your mother, who helped
find her a job, clothe her children, and keep her bills paid.

The daughters excelled in their studies and won a prestigious award
for their intelligence and high achievement in school

The family was given a house by Habitat for Humanity and she had found a job teaching.
Her story should have been read in Chicken Soup books and other inspirational texts.
Her children should have been accepted into fancy universities and
written memoirs.

Instead their fate is being decided for them as they sit on a dirty floor
With their dying mother and grandmother

With their father gone and no other relatives in the US there is
little chance they will make it out of Mexico,
across the Texan border back into the land of opportunity

~

today a pulled-up-by-the-bootstraps,
sweat-and-tears type of
American Dream
Has prematurely ended

As one strong-willed, kind-souled woman
Lies dying someplace in Mexico

(and you wished you had paid closer attention and given greater respect to this woman and her soon-to-be-orphaned shy, awkward daughters)