The Flamboyán’s Tears
by Lola "La Revolution" Rosario

Majestic the flamboyán tree 
stands, its broad branches 
dropping scarlet-orange petals 
tears formed from long ago 
centuries of 
sorrow 

crossing oceans and continents,
Madagascar to Borikén 
transplanted to a new 

soil to sprout differently 
for the comfort of 
colonizers 

who spread seeds of 

fear and oppression 
among a thought-to-be-savage population
whose 
descendants 

would one day seek a brief 
reprieve from the scorching rays
of a 
Caribbean sun 

a floral canopy draped like 
an umbrella its flowers 
fall softly whispering 
nostalgia