Tecolote

The Mexican word for owl is tecolote, from the Nahuatl: tecolotl.

I think it sounds beautiful in both languages: both of my origins.

My favorite bird is the tecolote. The way it sits in the tree:

Wise insomniac, alone. Only company is rain. At night, it comes alive:

A little moon. A myth. A continent of  leaves. At midnight: the tecolote

Transforms into a jaguar, into a python, into a dragon.

When I was younger, my mom used to tell me I was like

A tecolote because I would stay up late to watch Letterman or

Conan O’Brien. Then, as a teenager, I was a tecolote because I would

Go out late with friends and party. Now, at thirty-five, I’m getting

A tattoo of  a tecolote on my forearm. Reminder of my childhood,

My ancestry, the night. Gracias, tecolote: protector of the moon and sky.