Category: scholarships 22

Describe the inspiration and content of your entry, and how it relates to the theme
of “Resiliency of Basques.”

Describe the inspiration and content of your entry, and how it relates to the theme
of “Resiliency of Basques.”

Whistling against the wind

He was looking for better days, and newer ways
He left it all behind: his home, his farm, his mother, his brother and his sisters
On a one way ticket flight to the flat lands, the red rough dirt and dry desert air of Nevada
Not looking for any trouble but searching for America’s gold along the way

His only belongings were all that he had on him
He brought his walking stick to clear the brush and fight for space
Step by step, whistling against the wind, his only tracks he left on the forests rims
He’d carve a picture on the bark and hope to come back some day

No one was around him for miles, so he would hum to the rhythm of nature’s grace
He had his tiny French-English dictionary in his pocket in case he found his way
Living how he knows best, following the river upshore to better days
The streamline of life and death, both one in the same
His voice like a songbird, flying through the desert winds

Which way will it take him next?
Will he head towards the smell of the sea?
To the cliffs of the San Francisco bay?
Or will the sights of the mountain peaks take him away?
To Wyoming? To Boise?
To Montanas snowy days?

Will he leave the woods and sleep somewhere else tonight?
Where the smell of warm leek and potato soup roams through the air and out the kitchen doors
Where the strong flavored patxaran puts him to sleep and drown his blues away
Where the fresh French bread breaks and crumbles on his plate
Where he can taste the sweet cherry jam on top of his Ardi Gasna
It is the sweetest bite he has had in days

A boarding house
A temporary home, where he can sing his songs with a full belly
When, where, and how will he plant his stake?
There is no question, he must stay, to leave too soon would not be the Basque way

He will soon walk down many roads, singing songs about the homeland
He will work hard everyday
He will preserve the old country in his own way
When his American wife hands him a sandwich for lunch, he will be confused
He’ll want a red glass of wine exactly at noon

He will speak his language to the world despite being hushed away
As an immigrant, he will win and lose in America’s game 
He will sing his songs after dinner, even at the end of a rough day 
He has traveled many lands to find both the mountains and the sea 

Here in California, this country is weird and long, and they have “freeways”?
There is no valley as green as Ortzaize, nothing as lush and as humid as the Basque country
So he’ll find a pretty and strong woman, raise some babies, and give them both beautiful Basque names 
This life here and there, they are both one in the same 

His one way ticket took him the farthest he’s ever been 
His one Basque heart, brought with him the strength to carry on 
He made his village proud, he made his country known, he spoke his language loud and proud
He gave us a song to sing 

He was my Atautxi 
The lyrics to my lineage
Beñat Orpustan

Describe the inspiration and content of your entry, and how it relates to the theme
of “Resiliency of Basques.”

Describe the inspiration and content of your entry, and how it relates to the theme
of “Resiliency of Basques.”

CLICK HERE to read Jackson’s short story.