Esperanza
It's sad, like waiting,
It's hoping.
It's Esperanza who lives on Mango Street,
She's the one who's hoping.
Hoping for a better life.
Hope is bad,
It's like the number nine, a muddy color.
Hope is sad,
You always hope for something better.
When you're hoping,
It means you want something more.
Your life is incomplete because of hope.
If you hope too much, you will just get disappointed,
But you can't help but hope.
Hope is what helps Esperanza go every day.
Hoping for a better house, a better life.
Esperanza does not belong where she it,
She deserves better.
But because of her family, she is here.
It's an anchor of arms that holds her up,
The people who anchor her down to the ground.
Her mother, father, sister, brother,
Are her anchor of arms.
They hold her, comfort her, make her laugh.
They are the ones holding her back.
She is like a red balloon tied to an anchor,
Just waiting to be untied.
She could stop hoping,
But then she would crumple like a coat.
She needs to be herself,
Esperanza,
Like hope.


When that day comes when Esperanza is untied,
She will be ready.
Ready and waiting like a new Buick with the keys in the ignition.
Ready to take her where?
Where would she go?
What would she do?
I want to be
Like the waves on the sea,
Like the clouds in the wind,
But I am me.
One day I'll jump
Out of my skin.
I'll shake the sky,
Like a hundred violins.
Until then, she is better off on Mango Street,
With the four little elms the city planted.
Or with her friends, that smell like a broom.
Hoping, like her name, for the best,
And not knowing what will come next.