THINGS WE CARRY ON THE SEA - Wang Ping We carry tears in our eyes: good-bye father, good-bye mother We carry soil in small bags: may home never fade in our hearts We carry names, stories, memories of our villages, fields, boats We carry scars from proxy wars of greed We carry carnage of mining, droughts, floods, genocides We carry dust of our families and neighbors incinerated in mushroom clouds We carry our islands sinking under the sea We carry our hands, feet, bones, hearts and best minds for a new life We carry diplomas: medicine, engineer, nurse, education, math, poetry, even if they mean nothing to the other shore We carry railroads, plantations, laundromats, bodegas, taco trucks, farms, factories, nursing homes, hospitals, schools, temples…built on our ancestors’ backs We carry old homes along the spine, new dreams in our chests We carry yesterday, today and tomorrow We’re orphans of the wars forced upon us We’re refugees of the sea rising from industrial wastes And we carry our mother tongues 爱(ai)，حب (hubb), ליבע (libe), amor, love 平安 (ping’an), سلام ( salaam), shalom, paz, peace 希望（xi’wang), أمل (’amal), hofenung, esperanza, hope, hope, hope As we drift…in our rubber boats…from shore…to shore…to shore… #landofimmigrants #USA #4thofJuly #IndependenceDay #memories #lifeofanimmigrant #poetry #diaspora #literature #wangping 🇺🇲 (at Manhattan, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCPDc-9gS3_/?igshid=bkhmlggyatkj
