A Willow Tree Knows My Story

A willow tree knows my story.

 

I watered it with my tears

—aquellas lágrimas—

and it hugged me with its wooden arms,

rough como el amor,

and flexible like a spine.

 

El cielo—I can see it here without looking up,

do you remember the feeling?

And my chest conoce al espacio,

that breathy emptiness we forget to ask for.

 

Barter with tired ribs and flex those rubber band resolves

I know you carry;

don’t forget the leaves, mija,

my falling kisses.

Por favor—no las dejas también.

You know you can’t chase nothing forever.

 

Droughts end.

And rains retire late.

Ojalá que no fuera así—

but there are some laws above justice.

 

Este lugar has only ever known sadness.

Bring it something else

—para mí, ¿por favor?—

la esperanza—mija—bring it that.

It will believe only you.

 

¡Espera!—

*a memory of a hand reaches through air*

Just one last time?

 

Dance under the fractured lights of my willow tree

—let those skylights make their grassy fractals—

and wear a dress above your hips.

I need to see toes in the footprints you leave there.

Promise me you will.

 

Whisper to the bark,

not the wind anymore—¿entiendes?

 

Mija—escúchame—

Headphones aren’t a cure for the heart.

Band-Aids escape the skin.

 

Pero yo,

yo nunca te dejaré.

 

~

Spanish Translations:

aquellas lágrimas—those tears

como el amor—like love

El cielo—the heavens

conoce al espacio—knows the space

mija—my daughter, dear

por favor—please

no las dejas también—don’t leave them too

Ojalá que no fuera así—I wish it were not so

Este lugar—this place

Para mí—for me

la esperanza—hope

Espera—wait

entiendes—do you understand

escúchame—listen to me

Pero yo, / yo nunca te dejaré—But I, / I will never leave you

Sarina Kapai is a junior at USC studying Electrical Engineering and Spanish. She writes to avoid doing her other work and to make sense of things she doesn’t understand (there are many). In her free time, Sarina enjoys building planes, laughing, painting, and Taekwondo.