The Bridge

(For Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, Maynor Yasir Suazo-Sandoval, Carlos Daniel Hernández Estrella, and Miguel Angel Luna Gonzalez)

Francis Scott came to Baltimore to help out a friend,
While the Patapsco River flowed under enemy feet,
And Francis thought his country had met its fiery end.
He shuddered, trapped alone aboard the enemy fleet.
He watched through the bombardment of Fort McHenry —
A King’s Armada set against a citizenry —
And after twenty-five hours under siege,
The flag still waved for a people who’d be free.

Jerry’s family sailed from Greece to come here,
To build a better life. He looked for work and found it,
At the same Patapsco site. The bridge, for years
To come, would be there because of Jerry’s grit.
His memories come and go now, such is age,
But Jerry never forgot the Francis Scott
And the gallons of paint that he’d laid —
Never forgot the country that had given his family a shot.

Carlos, Jose, and Dorlian from Mexico
Came here to work and fix the bridge for Baltimore.
In the middle of the night, above the Patapsco,
They smoothed the potholes on the bridge that is no more.

The River’s been the home of many an enemy,
Her shores have seen the guns of tyrants blazing,
But none so evil as the acts of the greedy
That caused the Francis Scott Key Bridge’s razing.

The Dali cannot be an evil ship,
It has not the mind of man,
It didn’t mean to hit where it did,
And leave the workers nowhere to stand.

It would cost too much to check the systems,
That is all the company has to say,
While the widows of Carlos, Jose, and Dorlian,
Wonder if they will even be allowed to stay.

There is a lesson somewhere in the water,
Buried next to the men drowned in work trucks.
Please look, though the image is a bit somber,
The strength of our nation was never in bucks.