IMAGINING LIBERTY

PABLO

Virginia, 1779

George Washington cannot win his war

for independence from England

without the help of Germans, Frenchmen,

and soldiers like me, young volunteers from all

the colonies of Spain.

Here on the cold snow of Yorktown,

I remember how it felt to be home in Venezuela’s heat

when recruiters came, urging me to join a struggle

for the freedom

of northerners.

Now I secretly know that if I survive this battle,

someday I will be a rebel, too, ready to free

my own nation

from Spanish rule.