I don’t remember the day I started walking
I imagine it must have been a joyous day
Between me refusing to stop drinking her dry every day
And carrying me everywhere
The least I could do for my mother was walk

The first walk to big school is a memory engraved in my mind
The taste of the brown bread with thickly cut slices of polony
Pasted together with margarine tingles on my tongue
A meal that never came easy
But was served on this special occasion
Where hopes for the future were uttered
And dreams were placed on my fragile seven-year-old shoulders

I carried them with pride
And each step I took was a moment closer to the gates of opportunity
The brighter future I was promised
A future I promised to find

But you see their cars shone brighter
Their coins that popped out the sudden desire for a quick bite
Definitely shone brighter
And believe it or not
Their stories of juicy burgers and crunchy chips they had for dinner
Definitely shone brighter
Than my rice and beans chased down with water

So as if she could see it in my eyes
She took me to the horizon
Where the sun was still stretching
Raising its smaller hands above the mountains
She pointed far down the valley
A rectangular figure stood out from the fog

Her journey seemed harder than mine
Longer than mine
Down the rocky road, across the river and over the hills

She smiled at the memories of splashing around in uniform and bowed her head at the memories of friends that never came back up to the surface of the water

She walked that journey so I wouldn’t
Every time I walked mine
I remembered who I was
Whose blood pumped with every beat of my heart
Whose story I was going to tell