Since you are leaving today
Since this cradle could not yield to your cravings
Since your heart is throbbing in Ithaca
Since it could never beat peacefully here
Since you are looking for warmer suns
Since you are leaving today
I realize that you tire from always being on alert
That despair can be stronger than love
That staying is to be complicit
That exit is a form of speech
That crying is sterile now
Since you are leaving today
Weep no more your failures in rigged battles
Instead carry with you delightful memories
about your everyday victories
You did not utter a word until age four
Yet were a graduation class speaker
You are so strong now it rattles
Since you are leaving today
Remember the perverse pleasure of stealing
Fruits from our orchards belonging to them
Sweet revenge of knowledge over power
The spicy gumbo after Sunday service
Family picnics at Negro Creek’s bank
Chatoyant ripples of a pond at dusk
Recall this if you are sad in Ithaca
Since you are leaving today
I am sure you will find work shoveling snow
Your fingers will hurt under thick mittens
Sidewalks are slippery in November
Be careful how you move around
It is already winter over Ithaca
Since you are leaving today
Taste everything you were not allowed here
Beyond Ithaca is Canada
You will settle at the frontier
No more land to conquer
Except the vast expanse lying within you