Into the Forest and all the Way Through

by Cynthia Pelayo

Before you there, a girl who no longer is a girl, a girl who is bone and moss Leaves tangled within her eye sockets, stretched down to her finger bone

Forgetting to remember your scent, they are forgetting to Remember your name, so I will walk, and I will climb, and I will drive, so that your picture does not fade

Your niece posts Your face online and tells strangers That she still prays

Many questions, but if the questions Are all answered they cannot profit From your murder

Knowing a young girl will for eternity Have her final words trapped in her voice Box.

and if there’s anyone Who could know how to spin a lie How to weave a web, hide a body, It would be someone who dances With the law

How far can bones travel down river until they turn Around?

what is The punishment for a life stolen From time?

Metal pins and metal plates, and you Left behind your metal chain bracelet And you also left behind your name

I want my daughter alive, she entered that base alive, and that’s how I Expect her.

she always said “Mommy, I’m going to give You the stars,” and I would say “No mí hija, tu eres mi estrella” And now at night when I look Up into the celestial body of Creation I only see darkness