Cambio (Change)

I have always thought the Spanish language was beautiful

Passionate, romantic, lovely Spanish

Sounding as graceful as a butterfly wing

Spanish is the only language my mother knows

It makes it hard for her to communicate with others who don’t understand

How difficult it is for her to pronounce her English words

“This is America, speak English!”

Her eyes scan the floor, looking for the words to say back

But she stays silent because that is better than getting ridiculed again and again

“Miha I’ve noticed a lot of cambio

People don’t treat us the same when they can’t understand

The Spanish words we speak amongst ourselves”

I looked up to her eyes

Tears on the brink of spilling over

As I kept my head down and stayed silent

I wish I could go back

And stand up for you

Instead of staying silent because I was scared of being ridiculed too

There was no reason to be ashamed

No reason to want to sink into the floor

Or want to fly away like a butterfly

There has been a lot of cambio  

People don’t treat us the same way that they used to

But that doesn’t mean we have to change too