i’m listening to a girl talk about
how she speaks different now,
does things differently,
acts differently,
and it catches my attention.
she continues to explain
to the person she is with
that she is a recent american.
she happens to be very proud
to be a us citizen, but part of her
misses who she used to be,
where she came from, just a bit.
which i understand,
but at least
she is sure.
what she left behind
was worth leaving behind
for what she became.
and she’ll probably forget
what it was like to to be
who she used to be.
she’ll remember,
but she’ll forget too.
it won’t be with her everyday,
every moment, with every step.
she’ll become so much an american that
she won’t remember being anyone else,
except in the occasional rare moment.
already, she said she wouldn’t know how
to fit back into the place she left . . . .
and hopefully that means that she won’t have
to live with the ghost of who she once was.
