Tránsito, the Traveler

If you have not read House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, this will not make sense. My apologies. If you have, though, it should be interesting. In English last year (when I read it), our teacher gave us a creative assignment at the end of the semester. It was fairly simple and I can't remember all of the details, but we had to write something (I can't remember if it had to be a poem or not) about one of the characters that showed an in-depth understanding of the character. House of the Spirits spans a period of about 60 years and has quite a few characters who could be considered main characters, but as I'm sure to have mentioned earlier, I try to be a little original so I didn't do anyone who could be considered a main character at any point in the novel. I wrote a poem about the character Tránsito Soto, a prostitute who comes up quite a few times in the novel and ends up becoming rather successful and helping the Trueba family (the subject of the book) quite a bit at one point. Nonetheless, she can at no point in the novel be considered a main character, which is what I liked about her.

A couple friends asked me to post this one, so I will

Tránsito, the Traveler
Tránsito, the traveler
Soto, the thicket

Travel, the girl who changes much throughout her life
Travel, you move yourself by foot, peso, and pain
Travel, keep going though this job cuts like a knife
Travel, you’ll leave rather than get stuck in the chain

Thicket, untamed and still untamable are you
Thicket, they come to conquer you but you are strong
Thicket, you hide so much beyond your outer shell
Thicket, they see you as disgraceful but in truth it’s you they wrong

Travel, new scenery each year, each week, each hour
Travel, same vehicle through half a century
Travel, though female, your gender sustains your power
Travel, the woman that the rest aspire to be

Thicket, you started small, a couple dying seeds
Thicket, you grow until you reach immense success
Thicket, the poor girl works hard to fulfill her needs
Thicket, defy what’s there, grow tall and strong, progress

Poor girl, Chilean minds would scorn you with no thought
Poor girl, your gender, social class, disgraceful job
Woman, you thrive where all the weaker workers rot
Woman, you work, help, love, save lives, and never sob

Tránsito, the traveler
Soto, the thicket