You ask me where, our loved ones went.
I tell you yet, their love was spent.
They blinded us with promises —
of fortitude, wealth and fame.
They told us: “give us your wretched,
your disgusted, your urban poor;
give us your lonely — ”
and then they showed us the door.
We surrendered our mercury,
our extended families,
our social safety net.
We gave up our languages, our
sense of history, our lovers,
and their epithets.
We struggled, ourselves —
and our wives, and our children, too —
out of bondage, we bribed border guards,
merchant seamen, immigration officials,
and everyone else, in this zoo.
Once we left —
we knew, there was no way back.
You ask us where, our loved ones went.
We tell you yet, their love was spent.