For His Mother

& for his brother Esteban
who died in childbirth
along with his mother

His mother died on a December day in 1960.
She never got to see the Russians beat us into orbit.

She never saw Cuba aim its missiles at Little Havana.
She never got to see her boy get shot up in Viet Nam.

Or the Viet Cong making themselves at home in our suburbs.
She never saw her boy high on acid.

She never saw her son try to adjust
to civilian life on the streets of Houston.

She never saw him get clean.
Or become a good father & doting grandpa.

And still he goes on living it appears
even though he, too, died on a December day in 1960.