A Goodbye

I was raised Western

I spoke a tongue torn between opposite cultures

One that confused my grandparents

I sung and read in mixed perspectives

I wrote as they did miles away

I learnt in foreign curriculums

I was raised Western although I wasn't

I don't remember choosing to leave my home

But I always knew I would

I never had to flee my childhood neighborhood

Yet I always viewed it temporary

I never dreamt of a departure

But I always awaited it

I was raised to go West although I wasn't

At the back of my head

Like a broken clock

Were the climbing age of my grandparents I was

One day bound to see less

The doomed earthquake my hometown expected

That I'd be far from in the West

While my dog would sit through it alone

The familiar faces who cared for me as a kid

But would never afford a plane ticket to the West

I was raised Western

to leave, to run

although I wasn't

But no one had taught me how to say goodbye

To my mom