The first to walk across a snowfall
To recognize Eden
Speak the country of silence
Cast spells against time
Resolve decay
Make multiple heart donations
Practice empathy
And symmetrical peacemaking
Craft things unseen
List the clouds
Condense night
Love the shadow of a lover
Accept death as revision

Maria Theresa Ala of New York Harbor
The ocean crashes back
Beautiful Maria Theresa of Ellis Island
History crashes back
Mother of exiles enlightening the world
Maria Theresa of passenger ships
Adrift in the absence of time
Maria Theresa Ala of America
Vineyards spring up in song
Maria Theresa America
Immigrant of echoes and incarnations
Brooklyn Maria Theresa Ala
Mother of strong mothers of freedom

Gaetano Ala played guitar
Gaetano juggled grenades
And gardened in mustard gas
Gaetano smoked Gauloises
Got lost in the gaze
Of a Greek beauty in Algiers
Gained passage to Paraguay
Growing homesick again
For mother Mediterranean
Gaetano Ala played guitar
Gaetano smoked Gauloises
Immigrant and migrant
A grave in every ground
Great-great-grandparent ghost
Gaetano of ancient Gaeta
Gaetano Ala Gaetano
The margins of a designation
Grammarians agree
Wings of time and nothingness