ENEM 2023

We carry tears in our eyes: good-bye father, good-bye

    [mother

We carry soil in small bags: may home never fade in our

    [hearts

We carry carnage of mining, droughts, floods, genocides

We carry dust of our families and neighbors incinerated

    [in mushroom clouds

We carry our islands sinking under the sea

We carry our hands, feet, bones, hearts and best minds

    [for a new life

We carry diplomas: medicine, engineer, nurse,

    [education, math, poetry, even if they mean

    [nothing to the other shore

We carry railroads, plantations, laundromats,

    [bodegas, taco trucks, farms, factories, nursing

    [homes, hospitals, schools, temples... built on

    [our ancestors' backs

We carry old homes along the spine, new dreams in our

    [chests

We carry yesterday, today and tomorrow

We're orphans of the wars forced upon us

We're refugees of the sea rising from industrial wastes

And we carry our mother tongues

[...]

As we drift... in our rubber boats... from shore... to shore...

    [to shore...

Ao retratar a trajetória de refugiados, o poema recorre à imagem de viagem marítima para destacar o(a)