Realize ( La Paix )
by Gabrielle Grubka

They decide our fate tonight,
Unaware of the peculiar, discriminating traveler
Who awakens to the smell of lavender oil.

Beyond the obscurity,
The green field becomes oddly clear and familiar.
The television flickers images of hate,
As I turn and stare at your vulnerable brown eyes.

And still we hide,
Proud of our heritage,
Yet unable to speak its language;
Angered by indignities our ancestors suffered,

Yet unable to fully comprehend them
in our sheltered, bourgeois life.

We taste the honey
Brushed on leaves as pale as the paint on our neighbor's fence,
Resuming the struggle to fill a bed
That was never made for us.

Gabrielle Grubka is a junior at Daemen College in Amherst , NY . She is working towards a B.A. degree in French with a minor in Composition and Writing.