I left my small town at dawn
rolling a cardboard suitcase
When I reach New York
I will reinvent myself as Portuguese
Maybe better off an Arab Princess
a mysterious Armenian
A daughter of Rome sounds right
I want to model a lady precisely
I am tired of being redlined
I am an immigrant today
My children will be citizens
I know I will be submerged at the end
It will be on these shores
But after I am gone
my sickle cells will be carried by all
a defense against climate change
the only token of my double life
our genes proof that Neanderthals were neighbors then