Walking the Migrant Trail #1

Walking the Migrant Trial 2009: Being Present With Desconocida in the Shadow of Baboquivari by Steve Clemens.

Last week was the start of the 6th annual Migrant Trail Walk coordinated by Coalicion de Derechos Humanos based in Tucson, AZ. They state, “The walk is not intended to simulate the experience migrants face as they cross the gauntlet of death. Walkers are accompanied by support vehicles, unlimited food and water, and medical attention: things that the migrants themselves desperately lack. However by walking 75 miles in the hot summer sun we try to make a small contribution that will some day lead to change on the border. No one should be forced to risk their life in order to provide for their family.”

I walked part of the time and served as a logistics driver for the rest of the time to enable others to receive the support they needed to complete the arduous task. When I was driving, Mel, another driver/walker had me play a song over and over again on Kat’s cd player in the Isuzu Rodeo I drove. On it was a song written by Jake _____, a participant walker several years before on the Migrant Trail. He wrote a very moving song, Desconocida (the term used for “unknown [female]”) and it framed and contextualized the week for me. As best as I could transcribe the lyrics:

Desconocida

Desconocida,
Are you wearing your favorite dress?
Is it woven with wedding thread?
When you look over your shoulder
Does it cry colors?

Desconocida,
Does your hair fall over your eyes?
Does it seem so to a dragonfly?
They know the way they lose themselves
In the breeze

No one heard the sound of our body
On a grain of sand
Or the Creator had your name engraved
On the palm of His hand.
Desconocida.

Desconocida,
Do you dance ‘til the sun wakes up?
Slightly moving through the windows of your love
How you barely weave your finger-
Prints on the sill?

Desconocida,
Do you gaze into a jealous moon?
With the stellar of old surround your youth?
And when you are leaving
Do they ask you to stay?

No one heard the sound of our body
On a grain of sand
Or the Creator had your name engraved
On the palm of His hand.
Desconocida.

Oh, oh, oh …
Desconocida,
Are you breathing the freshest air?
Does your garden grow
With every prayer?
I feel the bees
They hum their sweet pollen.

Desconocida,
Have you the arms of a loving man?
Do you own the lines upon his hands?
Your family, does he build the table strong?

When no one heard the sound of our body
On a grain of sand
Or the Creator had your name spelled out
On the palm of His hands.
Oh, no one heard the song
Of you dying on the desert floor
But now you’ve got your favorite dress
Oh put on your favorite dress
Put on your favorite dress

‘Cause you don’t have to hurt anymore ….
Desconocida.