Bless Me, Ultima

by Hakim Be

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about

Written in 2012 after re-reading Bless Me, Ultima and watching a screening of the film at the National Hispanic Cultural Center.

lyrics

Bless Me by hakim bellamy

No, Antonio.
You are not broken.

You will fix us
in the places
that miracles have failed
and forgotten.

Eastern New Mexico
has been fighting
long before World War II,

and it’s quite normal
for war
to make people lose their faith…

in everything.

But you
are fact,
and where you are from
is fertile

Here,
they harvest soldiers
and priests
for lunch.

But you are cosmic.
A constellation of culture
that could tip the entire
llano towards the sun.

Just to get her attention.
To remind her
that we are her children
dying to get closer to her
by bullet or belief.

And you, Antonio,
will concern yourself
with the fate of every soul,
while the church concerns itself
with the fate
of every pocket.

Guadalupe is more than just your home, Antonio.
It is where your heart is buried
beneath the beaten,
beneath the beatings,
beneath your classmates mocking you,
“Bless me, Antonio!”
Beneath the beating earth pumping mud through our veins,

I may be no virgin,
but as sure as Juan Diego
smelled the rose petals on Our Lady’s breath,
I will give you this Nahua.

This language of healing
and curanderismo,
in hopes that you one day find yourself, Antonio.

And when you do,
perhaps
you will find your God
curled up behind you.

Protect him.
Speak to him
in the tongue of the land I taught you.

Then,
tell him to pick up a shovel
and saddle up!

Because there are too many miracles
and not enough time.

Because this is the army
the priests should have prayed for,
the army soldiers should have joined.

Because we need
all the help
we can get.

© Hakim Bellamy October 29, 2012

credits

released October 29, 2012
Hakim Bellamy

license

all rights reserved

tags

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