My Life As I've Seen It

My Life As I’ve Seen It

 

Life has been good to me,

                    although I’ve had some years

     when I wished I had not been born.

 

In my very early childhood,

             I lost someone very close

                          who was our family tower.

 

     But life continued on, as usual.

          Some times were blissful

                                   and other times were the worst.

 

   Peers can be mean, at times,

         And some of mine made

           my life a living hell.

 

            But life continued on, as usual.

            Sometimes it was bearable

                             and other time unbearable.

 

School time was quite enjoyable

               and I always made the best of it.

                    But it ended at an early age.

 

   Because our family tower was gone,

           my school fun ended for a while.

                         Boy, being poor can be a curse!

 

        At ten, children are found

       at school learning the three R’s

                      and having fun with classmates.

 

   But that pleasure is for the well-to-do

                   who have enough or more than enough

               to live a nutritional existence.

 

The poor have to leave their schooling

             to go out to find a job

         to help support their family.

 

    My childhood working years were few,

             for I had to leave my village to become

       an illegal alien in the United States of America.

 

    Although the plan was to continue working

        as soon as I reached my destination,

      fate had other plans for me.

 

                Because I was too young to work,

       thanks to this land’s child labor laws,

           I had to continue my education.

 

                Again, children can be quite mean,

          even in this new environment,

        for I had some bad experiences.

 

                But life continued on, as usual.

          Most of the time I had fun

            but a few times were discouraging.

 

    Adolescence can be worrisome

          because, if fate is not on your side,

   you can get in lots of trouble.

 

    But fate was quite good to me,

   as I sailed through my adolescence

          without any of the usual problems

 

    In my successful late teens,

         someone became quite envious

               and caused me trouble with the B. P.

 

        

 

 

 

Back to work I went, in Mexicali,

       because some envious acquaintance

                                   and the Border Patrol sent me back to Mexico.

 

          My graduation was delayed for a year

         and I lost track of my long-time classmates.

                        But I returned to graduate one year later.

 

          College seemed to be unreachable

but, thanks to Mom and part-time jobs,

                             my tenacity pulled me through to graduation.

 

         Marriage to the prettiest girl in the world

              brought me joy and resolve to continue studying

                             and I finally earned my B. A. and M. A. Degrees.

 

       Three beautiful daughters heightened my happiness,

              as I saw them grow, graduate, earn their degrees

   and marry three great sons-in-law.

 

       They gave me seven beautiful grandchildren

   whom we took care of, at times,

                  until disabilities and old age put a stop to it.

 

       But life continues on, as usual,

    with incurable disease, plenty of disabilities,

                     and dark clouds in the horizon.

 

While being a caregiver to my other half,

        I wrote some stories that I published                                                        

      and some songs that I’ve recorded.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In between those stories and songs,

  I have written a few poems

                 and my personal autobiography.

 

                 Hopefully, I plan to have all these published

             before I become completely disabled,

            as my wife has been for years.

 

            And time continues moving forward, as usual,

                                             without thinking or worrying one bit

                                                      about what it brings to all of us.

 

     We have become sedimentary, more or less.

                   My wife and I cannot go anywhere together.

                          And I’ll soon have more trouble walking.

 

                                   Time keeps ambling on its way, as usual,

       leaving some of us way behind,

                  crippled in limbs, minds and hearts.

 

                                  We’re just waiting for never-ending life

       to leave us farther behind

                                                      and completely out of sight.

 

                                  We’ll say good-bye, forevermore,

                                             to this beautiful life, cruel at times.

                  But, boy, how beautiful it is at times!