I am my ancestors’ wildest dreams realized,
a woman unafraid to speak her mind
live out loud
unabashedly love who I choose
without hesitation
or shame
I honor their passage in steerage
crossing an ocean to embrace
a different life than what was given them
they dreamed of freedom
living life unfettered by the
boot heels of tyranny
they dreamed of days and nights
brimming with ease, laughter, pride,
inviolable sovereignty
my grandmothers no longer shackled to traditions
that entombed their spirits, constrained their gifts
my grandfathers no longer imprisoned
by the limitations of class and ethnicity
I am their dream actualized at long, long last
not perfect, but perfecting
not finished, but ever evolving
leaping to conjure the hopes they held
in their hearts, dance with the possibilities
they envisioned
sing the songs they left unsung
no longer silenced by omerta
no longer afraid to breathe
to say I am
I am
I am