- Poem by Gabriela Margarita, Grade 9

Being a stranger to this country,
I am at the mercy of my guide.
He leads me through the narrow streets
of a city that sings
with age and the scents of wine.

His city swells with music, and charm,
it grows with the heartbeat, every note
rising higher, lasting longer than the last,
with the soft reassurance that everyday
will bring you closer to old age.

He speaks of it as if it were his only passion,
words seem to come easy for him
and he tells me a story of the city when it slumbers--
how the stars hang low, glowering in the velvet of the sky.

Then he asks me of my own home,
and I plainly say,
I come from a world full of gray little faces
who wander by each other shiftlessly,
a place where I lost my language,
a place where I lost my faith,
and all he does is smile.

When suddenly the street narrows once more
and I am a young girl again and he is,
transformed.

Into a great white bird that
continues to guide me down the alley
that has drawn us once again
closer together.