Yo estoy acostumbrada.

We are small and proud
but the giant exhausts us
by lying on our shoulders,
pressing so we hardly breathe
gripping our throats
while we were singing;
turning off the lights while we dance
shouting in a foreign tongue
while we are quietly in each other's arms--
Accusing us on the telephone at 3 AM
of disturbing the peace.

Yo estoy acostumbrada ahora,
pero yo no estaba acostumbrada antes.

You colossus,
you steal our spare parts from our trade,
steal our needs,
our pencils, our postcards,
our human values
with deadly threats,
with violent movies
and perfume ads for our young,
scoffing at our good will,
digging up our roads,
our lives
to waste ourselves defending our lovely island
against you.
What have we done to you except be resentful
of your seizure of us when
we had the Spaniards on their knees?
and you blew up your battleship
in our harbor to move inside our world,
then with Machado and Batista

-vi-