Happy Fourth

Learning to Love America


because it has no pure products


because the Pacific Ocean sweeps along the coastline
because the water of the ocean is cold
and because land is better than ocean


because I say we rather than they




because I live in California
I have eaten fresh artichokes
and jacaranda bloom in April and May


because my senses have caught up with my body
my breath with the air it swallows
my hunger with my mouth


because I walk barefoot in my house


because I have nursed my son at my breast
because he is a strong American boy
because I have seen his eyes redden when he is asked who he is
because he answers I don't know


because to have a son is to have a country
because my son will bury me here
because countries are in our blood and we bleed them


because it is late and too late to change my mind
because it is time


Shirley Geok-lin Lim
via Poetry Foundation