The Road to Aztlan

The steel cage around my chest
feels tight
the bull in me
roaring, huffing and puffing
is ready to run back home
if only for a few days
I'm sick homesick
My eyes are tearing
sometimes
my heart is naked and bloody
humbled by the heights, my spirit
ready to board the aluminum bird
with it's loud hissing chant
I'm ready
my soul is ready
to climb to the top of the post
and dance in circles
with earth, water, wind and fire
as the Papantla Flyer that I am
I'm ready to take the road to Aztlan

Will you be there waiting for me?
will she be there?

What if I expect your heart
open like an umbrella?
The colorful marketplace, fresh fruit
pinatas and the man selling balloons
what if I expect the streets
to cry in rain?
ride on the orange snakes
that travel underground

Witness the sunset at the Pyramid of the Moon
overlooking the Avenue of the Dead
in Teotihuacan

Walk the cobblestone streets in Tepoztlan
while my eyes go looking
for flying saucers in the sky
and spend some nights and days
in my home, with my roots and my womb
to my Mother and to where I am from
there I could die and sleep in peace

Meet with old friends
and talk about how we are getting older
meet their kids and see me as an uncle
and yes, why not? sin with a lover
and drink her honey water "aguamiel"

But my stubborn spirit yearns for the darkness as well
the path to Mictlan is calling me
to the underworld, the parallel
to Mizquic and celebrate the dead
the dead that are coming back
while I immerse in a stupor of copal
myrrhand frankincense
sailing through a cemetery of masks
skulls and candles
chants, rosaries and prayers
and the souls of some of those we miss
like my soul misses some of you
and when you take the children trick or treating
remember I'll be in Mexico
sweating in the hot steam of the temazcal
letting my spirit run free
that's my treat
no tricks
just magic.