Nantli

Words by Elena Ceja
Artwork by Tiffany Moreno

I am in awe of how you did it, birthed and raised 9 humans into this world, a world that stood against you and tried to define you as less than, when you are all there needs to be

Mami you are magic, a curandera healing all doubt and illness, a touch of your hands as medicinal as the earth, as if every ancestor is cupped within them, the comfort of our abuelas, Tia’s, cihuah vibrating through you.  

Your words are miracles; prayers to God, they follow the tempo of my heart beat.  Yours are the words my soul imagines when it is lost.  Your blessings like blankets giving warmth, the armor shielding us from danger.  

Mami your eyes aunque ya no ven they see me, they recognize my needs and joys, they see beyond what we appear to be.  Your eyes hold the memories of our life, in those dark and blurry moments your eyes can not focus, your memory does not fade. 

You are the storyteller of the life I hoped I lived.

“Nimitztlazohtla Nimitznequi noca cihuapillahtocatzintli”