Volunteer

VOLUNTEER

They said don’t volunteer

find a paying job

I said I was born to help

they said help us

I said you don’t need help

They said “charity begins at home.”

Charity! Oh charity!

How many definitions do they know?

I finish the quote for them “…and goes into the world.”

Charity begins at home and goes into the world.

But maybe they were saying, wait, there is no charity here

Build it first.

I said too late

I said that it was in our immigrant genes to help

They said I was crazy

that they didn’t come here to be poor.

I said but we’re not poor.

Maybe I will be poor, maybe I won’t.

They said it is not why they came here from over there.

I said but you are wrong --the name of our native town

mandates my altruism

They go bug eyed.

I say we came from Saint Donate.

They say no, it’s Donato

I say “okay, donate to…”

They shake their heads and walk away

[This appears in my "Mexico--Dust in My Blood"]