Falling Rocks
By Joan Baez
Joan Baez recently read her original poem titled “Falling Rocks” in a video published by the San Francisco Chronicle. In her introduction, Baez explained that she wrote the poem “to try to give a voice to children who are being silenced.”
It’s for the kids we’ve seen on tv who have been taken from their families, and they’re floating around in detention centers. And it’s all kind of too horrible for anyone to realize so this is from the point of view of a kid…
Tengo Miedo
Tengo frio
Tengo hambre
Estoy sola
I am afraid
I am cold
I am hungry
I am lonely
Where is my mother?
Where is my sister?
Where is my dog?
Where is my new dress?
I was on the school bus in my new dress
with my lunch bag on my lap
I had lemonade in a box
with a little straw attached
a peanut butter and jelly sandwich
Like the other kids who are my friends
but they stayed on the bus
and I did not
All around me was like a mountain falling
and I was just one of the rocks
you are supposed to watch for
while driving
But no one is watching out for this little rock
I’m still falling
falling
Tengo miedo
Tengo frio
Tengo hambre
Estoy sola
If you’re interested in more of her poetry, Joan released a debut poetry collection titled When You See My Mother, Ask Her to Dance, which includes autobiographical poems and reflections on her life and activism.
Thank you Joan Baez, for writing Falling Rocks.
