Questão 3171991

Things We Carry on the Sea

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 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

[...]

As we drift... in our rubber boats... from shore... to shore...

[to shore...

PING, W. Disponível em: https://poets.org. Acesso em: 1 jun. 2023 (fragmento).

Ao retratar a trajetória de refugiados, o poema recorre à imagem de viagem marítima para destacar o(a)