Under The Same Bright Blue by Tatyiana Hayes

I am still unfolding the map of these new streets, tracing the lines of a life that is just beginning to bloom here.

I come with my own rhythm and a heart full of fresh air, moving through a city where every face I pass is a different way to say home.

I look up and see the same sun that watched me grow time ago, now lighting up the glass of a terminal where the whole world seems to land.

People step off planes with suitcases full of history, bringing their mothers' recipes and their fathers' prayers, each one a different note in a song that we are all trying to learn the words to.

It is a beautiful thing to realize that my voice, rich and young and black, is just one thread in this huge, colorful quilt.

We might speak in different tongues or carry different burdens in our hands, but when we pause to catch our breath, we are all reaching for the same wide horizon.

Two hundred and fifty years of walking, and here we are, still finding our way together.

Whether we just got here or our roots run deep, we are all standing on this warm Florida Soil, breathing the same air,

dreaming under the same bright blue

Tatyiana's Bio

Tatiana Hayes serves as the Communications Coordinator for the City of Orlando Families, Parks, and Recreation Department. Outside of her work for the city, she is the founder of the Sunshine Writer's Circle, a group focusing on literary decompression. She is passionate about finding creative ways to tell stories and creating a safe space where writing feels like home.