Song Wish

Dear Dad,
Hear and bless thy beats
and the bird singers
and gourds with tenderness,
small things that have no words.

I remember when you sang in the car
before you died,
and I can still hear your songs.

Down in the river I can hear you singing.
I run but when I get there I don't see you.
I sit on a rock and wonder who you are.
Then I hear you again. I look around
but only see the sun going down.
I see no one else. Just me, the rocks, the sun and the river.
In the water I see another me. We look at one another.
I hear that song that makes me feel peaceful and alive.
I know who was singing. It was the river, so beautiful.
I wish I could sing like that and be a mystery.

One afternoon, I hear the sound in a well,
so dark I can hardly see.
I touch the water and it feels like
snow falling upon me.
Seeing my reflection,
singing to the water,
hearing how I sound.
The well makes me sound nice.
My singing makes my reflection move,
makes me feel like a feather upon the water,
looking down.

Reina Marie Valadez
Grade 7, Pauma School