Steven Escobar Mendez
Nataj che?
There was a tragedy, do you remember?
There was violence, do you remember?
There were struggles, do you remember?
There was a promise, do you remember?
Of course I remember the tragedy, I still stand
Of course I remember the violence, It was in our land
Of course I remember the struggles, like the back of my hand
Tz’aqatisaj?
You always talked about no honor in forgetting your history
You always talked about no honor without liberty
You always talked about no honor in a solo victory
You always talked about honoring the promesa, did you not?
Still do, I will never forget where I came from
Still do, take risk to maintain that outcome
Still do, but have past to overcome
Kojonel?
We used to talk about the land that, how it once was and could become
We used to talk about the place you wanted to escape from
We used to talk about the pact of brothers, stuck to them like gum
We used to talk about a promise you swore to uphold, did you not?
There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think of the eternal spring
I remember that place, and the goal of leaving went into full swing
There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think of my brothers, it stings
There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think of that promise
I remember that promise that I swore to uphold
I wanted to honor that promise like if it was gold
My plan to go to the land, after everything, the promise was bold
But, ultimately, where was I?
“‘Patria y Honor’ revolves around Indigenous culture of my Guatemalan side, specifically because of its nickname, the land of Internal Spring, so I decided to mix English and Guatemalan words.”
Steven Escobar Mendez is a Mexican Guatemalan from
Washington DC, currently a junior at Lehigh University,
where he is studying Political Science and Global Studies.
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