Wind Says (me quedo aqui)

WIND SAYS*

Wind says, Come go with me.
Tree says, No, I must stay.
Wind says, Have fun, let us play.
Tree says, No, I will stay, for
soon you shall go on your way
And I shall be here tall and strong
to give shelter to all that come.
So take my branches if you must,
but leave my roots in earthy dust.
Tree says, Wind be gone!
For I am master of this fight today.

*a poem by Emma Lou Prophet, written in February 1990. Lou died in December, 2017. Her husband, Wiley, hired me as a programmer trainee in 1970. He hired me again in 1974 when I returned from a year in Denver. He and I still get together for lunch, sometimes joined by Niki. Lou said he always enjoyed his time with 'the girls.'

I want to title it me quedo aqui (I'll stay here) because I first heard that phrase spoken by a two-year-old child. Her father had asked, in English, whether she wanted to go with us. She shook her head, removed her pacifier and said, 'me quedo aqui'