Ode to the Bronx

Bronx,

how can I leave you?

home when I had no home,

your streets I wandered,

wistful and lone.

Bronx,

are you any less beautiful,

in your decay?

brick tenements rise, crumbling from the smoke

they form your cityscape on train windows.

Bronx,

have you not inspired

the city's downtrodden?

birthplace of hip hop,

the language of the worn and resolute.

Bronx,

who will love

your ignored children?

the graffiti sets your schools ablaze

the apartment hallways are silent with grief.

Bronx,

how can I leave you

burning still, after three decades?

home when I had no home,

your streets I wandered,

wistful and lone.

***

This one is very close to my heart. If I had the presence I would make an attempt at def poetry with this but sadly I don't. I've gotten embarrassed and flustered at every poem I ever read aloud.

I wrote it after I realized how many others like me, have had small beginnings in this borough, or ended up in the Bronx at some point or another in their lives- only to leave when they had the means to. I know at some point my family wants to go back to Queens, and inshAllah will be able to. But I can't help but feel an immense sadness for all the other children, just like my little sisters, that will be left behind in our far from perfect public schools and housing developments.