This Land is My Mother…

 

 

Your guns won’t scare us,

She will care for me.

Your hate won’t bury us,

She will be there for me.

 

My feet touch earth that speaks to me,

Why won’t you listen?

 

Your walls can’t keep out destiny,

Her eyes see through concrete.

And when I cry, she bleeds for peace.

And though my tongue, yes it is young,

She speaks for me.

 

Yes my mother she fights to breathe,

Through you and me,

Eternally!

 

Before any of this, she was everything.

And after my heart stops, her drums will beat,

Eternally!

 

When she is thirsty, it rains on me.

When I am naked, she is one with me.

 

So bring your guns, they don’t scare me.

Your hate, no, won’t bury me.

The mother will care for me,

Eternally!

 

She is there to take me home.

 

 

 

 

 

Semillas

 

 

We have tricks too,

Soon you’ll see.

Expect the least

From a single seed.

Soon we’ll grow

And reach the dream.

 

We’ll work hard,

While you just sleep.

When we are hungry,

You’re too full to eat.

 

Now we make decisions,

Here is our chance.

Stand strong and progress,

Or keep believing were second best.

 

It’s not like we haven’t seen this before.

First they want a little bit,

Only to take a whole lot more.

 

I thought you usually have to buy a home,

And we never put our houses for sale.

 

This time we’re smarter, learning your ways.

We don’t want to be like you dollar sign slaves.

 

Our flower is pure, not poison.

Precious, not pain

We are proud of what you call plain.

 

We could teach you of modesty.

We could teach you of honesty.

We could teach you that teaching means

Practice what you are preaching.

 

Although softly we speak, our roots have grown deep,

We stand strong like concrete and stain like red ink,

We remember the smell of kerosene.

 

We have tricks too,

Soon you’ll see.

Expect the least

From a single seed.

 

 

 

 

Esteban Terrazas is an apprentice to history with hopes of finding solutions to the problems of the Chicano community, especially those in the field of Education.  Esteban is currently planning to enter a Graduate program at the University of Texas at El Paso.