apart

i stand, apart
part of this scene
this gasping face in
a healing place, death
kneels, waiting for him
my white face married in

apart, of this scene
a part of them
i do not understand
he accepted me, ‘mija
my white daughter'
i wait, we surrounding
my second father, waits
gasping for breath
we stand in the air
lean, aching for him
waiting for him
pleading patient
death to wait, kneeling
with tears, kissed upon
his gnarled hands
i do not understand
lean times gasping in
hard scrabble lines
field labor, picking
crops, digging hard

he aches, drawing
gasping, hands clasp
grasping these faces
my face, apart
so unlike his daughters
we wait for him
death kneels, patient
waiting, in thin air
i do not understand
the striking days
lean, hunger aching
of beans and rice
tortillas rising
raising all but me
his white daughter

apart, part of this scene
he accepted me in
as we in silence wait
in patient aching
for him, our father