This is the portrait of my Tia Amanda – whose eyes grace the header of this blog – that once hung at my grandparents’s house. It’s now at my mom and dad’s. I grew up staring at that painting in awe and bewilderment and, I suppose, melancholy. I never met Tia Amanda. She passed before I was born.
Many years ago, on the day of my grandfather’s burial, I made a promise to her that I would one day lay flowers on her grave. It has been a long wait, but the moment that darkness is lifted from that island shaped like a crocodile, Tia Amanda – La Bayamesa – will be showered in flowers.
You have my prayers and, when the time comes, flowers. Anything I can do. This is what cambio means to me.
a beautiful lady she was. Perhaps one day I’ll take my mom back to see her homeland that she hasn’t seen since 1958.
My understanding is that your folks are from Oriente too so maybe I’ll run into you and have a Cuba Libre in a free Cuba.
Los ojos de la bayamesa lo dicen todo:
Oscuros como la noche,
Y radiantes como una estrella,
Todo a la misma vez
Un misterio inconcevible
Y todo lo que es verdad
Se encuentran en su brillo
Y se envuelven en su oscuridad
I made that promise to my dad. I have his ashes waiting to return to Pinar del Rio.
Waiting…
She was truly a beautiful young lady. May god have her in his care. My Mothers dream, although she was born in Puerto Rico was to once again visit Oriente where she was raised and where my Aunts and Uncles were born. She was not able to realize that dream. I know that one day soon I will be able to visit the graves of her little brother Robertico and little sister Mercedita, saying a prayer and laying flowers that thier grave site. Your dream will also be a reality Val.