Sailor Pays Tribute to His New Home

Oscar Enrique de Sousa, a 20-year-old Navy medical corpsman fighting in Afghanistan, wrote this poem from the Peleliu. De Sousa, a Venezuelan immigrant, said he wrote this in response to a question he is commonly asked: How does he feel about defending a nation that is not his?

A NEW HOME

To the USA, my new home, whose Navy I now serve with honor and courage:

Let all be accomplished for the earned freedom

and the peace of mind of that country that

once kindly received me as one of the world’s poor, hungry, tired and needy.

*

America, here’s your poor, hungry, homeless and tired ...

helping you stand tall and proud; this adopted son of yours,

who has always been thankful for the received support,

that hand of opportunity that you provided him and his.

*

Now here I locate myself attempting to refund you

by shielding your sovereignty, not long abruptly threatened

as a result of the ignorance and cowardly envy of others ...

But we will survive! Oh! Yes, victory will be ours,

And God will guide us through. The world will be our witness.

I will turn into one of your proud, brave knights

defending that peace in which your flag waves to the mercy of the wind.

*

And you, Oh! America, you will no longer be

just a different terrain where my house rests,

you will become my new home, you will continue being

the home of the brave.