Guaranda

If He had split the sea for us,
and had not taken us through it on dry land,
it would have been enough.

—Dayenu

It wasn’t enough that we slogged pale across horse latitudes
bound burros west through muck and jungle, malaria the eleventh plague,
forded the Amazon, tambourine danced like Miryam omein and omein
we thought Loja was Eden, an eternal spring of lush fruited soil
but they found us, we could smell their burnt breath in the wind
fled further north: Cuenca a river Jordan if we ever saw one
streets paved in Inca gold then washed bloody    they found us
we covered our bowls climbed higher, beyond el páramo to Riobamba
but here they were waiting, tightening their racks, licking their lips
of fire to devour us we walked through the valley of death
dug our heels into this mountain covered our tracks with switchbacks,
prayed to Abba that the world would forget our names, sack cloth
and ashes omein and omein counting ten thousand Shabbats, here
we’ve stayed. May our children’s children never forget why we came.

________

Lupita Eyde-Tucker writes poetry in English and Spanish. “Guaranda” was selected as a finalist in the Loraine Williams Poetry Prize by Ilya Kaminsky. Her work has recently appeared in Nashville Review, The Acentos Review, Raleigh Review, Columbia Journal, Women’s Voices for Change, Yemassee, and Chautauqua. Lupita began pursuing a MFA in Poetry at the University of Florida this fall, and will be a Staff Scholar at Bread Loaf Translators Conference next summer. Read more of her poems at: www.NotEnoughPoetry.com