I lost my country
a half-century ago.
Mom whisked me away
from my Papa and my friend Kasia.
We left on a train,
crossed the sea on a boat.
Welcomed to a new land by strangers
who were my grandma and uncle.
A land of hot blistering sun,
a large beach littered with trash.
sand blowing through cracks in the walls
and into my pockets.
Strange sounds I didn’t understand
We only stayed a short time
then crossed the ocean on a plane
for the promised land of America.
Once again
we were immigrants,
different,
misunderstood,
learning to fit in
to a strange place
and unfamiliar language.