Who Wrote the Song For That Old World?
what is it that you’ll leave behind
when this world is done for and you have to flee?
I tried to love you like I do my mirrors and my shadows
I bent my will to human form
when this world is done for and we have to flee
they might not take you in at our new home
they’ll try to bend your will to human form
and make you leave behind your words
your songs, your idle hands
they might not take you in at our new home
a place where only saviors are allowed
they’ll have no need for words or songs or play
or fingers drenched in ink but not in blood or soil
a place where only saviors are allowed
to tear us off the roots of our mistakes
to take away the ink and drench the soil in blood
to kill our reveries, cleanse us through honest work
if you could loathe the root of your mistake
and learnt with us the skills of dry repent
you’d love us like a mirror or a shadow
renounce your reveries and come to our new world
where no songs will be sung of what we left behind
Virginia Gris is a Dominican-born, Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist with a background in poetry, theatre and film. She’s the founder of Imaginario Films and the author of the opinion column “La Cuarta Pared”, published weekly in Listin Diario. Virginia is currently finishing an MFA in Creative Writing at CCNY.
The Marbled Sigh 