Tell Me, Mariposa

(For the monarch butterfiles in our lives)

Tell me, mariposa

That what our people say about you is real

Tell me, mariposa

That you are the realization of resistencia

In the natural world

Tell me, mariposa

That your journey

And struggles

Is our own story

Tell me, mariposa

That you are the ancestors among the marigolds

Tell me, mariposa

That our instruments and songs

Give you strength to cross the continent

Tell me, mariposa

That our footsteps shake the colonial strongholds

Over our sacred earth

That every blood and teardrop

Will make the path less painful

For those who follow

Tell me, mariposa

That you carry the names

Of our missing loved ones

Long after we used our last breath calling them

Tell me, mariposa

That we are healing

Because we chose to exist

Tell me, mariposa

That we are forgiven

For our human frailty

Our cruelty, our arrogance

Our every transgression

Tell me, mariposa

That our scars

Will not carry over to the spirit world

Or pass to the next generation

Tell me, mariposa

That our loved ones fulfilled their journey

To the Creator’s arms

Tell me, mariposa

That we are still loved by the spirits

That they hear our prayers

Tell me, mariposa

That our movement continues

That you carry our resistance

Tell me, mariposa

That our danza and our drums

Bring medicine to our people

Tell me, mariposa

That our languages

Are still spoken

Tell me, mariposa

That we no longer carry

The curse of traumas

That we carry blessings

Along with new hope

Tell me, mariposa

The words of your sacred footprints

So that we may find our way to you

Tell me

That we the descendants

Coming back once more

Beyond all storms

Still thrive

Poem: DAVID MENDEZ is a writer from Saint Paul’s West Side working in education and in the community. He draws upon his blue-collar roots and Chicano experience in his works. He hopes to inspire others to take up the pen and share their stories.