WHO ARE YOU?

Since you are young,

The newest of our cousins,

You have many privileges:

You could work on your own

And built your own mansion.

Since you are young,

When you played with your cousins,

You always played the hero roll...

Meanwhile the others were:

Mexican loser; Brazilian clown;

Colombian drug dealer;

Haitian poor; Cuban, dictator,

Canadian, good neighbour.

You never tried to feel

What is a robber, villain

(However, your cousins

Always have complained

About your heroic actions)

Your mother, our aunt,

Always was soft to you

(Though there were so terrible

Fights when you had to get

Your own independence)

Our mothers, your aunts,

Compared to yours, put us

To work for their benefit...

And, when we did wrong,

They severely punished us.

Who are you, my cousin?

Who still thinks as a hero,

Not just of our neighbourhood,

But, of the whole world?

Well, we are sure you are not US...

You are, not doubtful, U.S.

(Leandro Monteiro)