A Mother's Loss

Hanh Nguyen, Age 17
Albany
Albany High School

How do I show my daughter the castle that I have built?

How will she know of the dreams

that I have meticulously stored for her,

it she does not remember who she is?

I see it in her eyes-, her forgotten Asian heritage

She looks through me.

but years ago, her gaze,

was one of adoration.

When I spoke, she listened intently. Interested in what I had to say.

Now, she cuts me off with a roll of her eyes

and a terse, "Oh, mother."

She does not realize that the words slice my heart,

and leave my two halves

crying a river of scarlet tears.

I know that my daughter has forgotten.

She has fused with her American friends

she has become a clone of them.

Chinese New Year,

has been replaced by Christmas.

She has neglected our native language altogether,

substituting it with English, which I can only grasp certain words of.

Even looking at her hair, I no longer see

black, silky, tresses.

Instead, my eyes see wisps of red and white,

stripes of the American Flag.

She no longer considers Vietnamese customs and Vietnamese ways

She is too absorbed with American lifestyles.

Today, she takes the car keys and walks out the door

She does not tell me where she is going.

My castle begins to crack, like an antique vase.

I watch, as she pulls out of the garage,

her car filled with her white, and black companions.

No Asians.

The pieces of the building crumble before my eyes.

Without looking back, she speeds away into the blackness.

And I know,

There will be a day,

When I will lose my daughter completely to

America.