Day 4
November 28th – Day 4 of the 16 Days of Activism
GUERRERA
By Mydalis Vera…
Her mother’s roots grew deep in Borinquen’s soil,
Where the mountains kiss the sky,
Where the rivers sing through the valleys,
And the earth hums with stories of strength,
But she was raised in the concrete jungles,
Where steel and glass reached just as high.
Where the streets were her playground,
And the sounds of the city were her lullaby.
She danced to the rhythm of car horns,
The hum of the guagua, the laughter and cries.
Her mother’s spirit, though, never left her side,
Saying, “Mija, escucha, nunca te rindas.
Sigue adelante, the world is yours to claim.”
She is a guerrera, born from both land and city,
Fierce, resilient, and unafraid.
From the island's coquí calls to the urban roar,
She learned to stand tall in both places,
A bridge between worlds, a daughter of both.
In her veins runs the courage of women before her,
The mujeres who crossed oceans of doubt and fear,
Who fought battles in silence, unseen, unsung,
But always, always victorious.
In this world, she learned survival,
But more than that, she learned how to thrive.
Her story, like her mother’s, became her shield,
Her sword, her guide,
For stories, cuentos, are what save lives.
Each word, Vaseline to wounds unseen,
Each chapter, a map for those lost in the storm.
She writes her own with hands calloused from work,
With eyes that have seen both destruction and reconstruction,
She writes not just to tell, but to heal,
Not just for herself, but for all those who feel
The weight of the world pressing them down,
For every woman who thought she might drown.
Because in the quiet moments, when the world stops,
It’s the mujeres who save each other.
Hand in hand, heart to heart,
One woman lifts another when she can barely stand,
When her knees buckle under the weight of it all,
Another steps in and says, "I’ve got you."
She whispers, “Hermana, no estás sola.”
Because we are never alone.
We are woven together, a frisa of strength,
Each thread, each woman, a story, a life,
Connected, fuerte, and whole.
And in those moments, power multiplies,
Not like lightning, sudden and brief,
But like the roots of the ceiba tree,
Deep, expansive, unshakable.
Women empower women.
It’s in the manos of women that strength grows,
Passed from one to another,
A flame that never dies but only grows brighter.
We fan it, tend it, protect it,
For we know that when one of us rises,
We all rise.
And she, this Guerrera,
She knows that her story is not hers alone,
It belongs to the generations before her,
To her mother, who whispered strength into her bones,
To her daughters, and their daughters,
Who will look up at her and say,
“If she can, so can I.”
She saves her sisters, like her mother once did,
Teaching them to rise, to fight, to live.
For in their shared stories, lives are in the color green,
And in their united hearts, the world is dreamed.
Through every obstacle, every challenge,
She whispers, “Sigue adelante.
The world is hard, but we are harder.
The path is long, but we are stronger.”
It’s not just about survival, though that’s where it begins,
It’s about more, about thriving, about joy.
About the beauty that comes after the storm,
The way the sun feels on your skin
After too many days in the dark.
It’s the pain that brings the Lluvia,
But it’s the rain that makes us grow.
It’s the struggle that strengthens us,
That sharpens us like a blade.
And when the storm passes,
We rise like the sun,
Glowing, fierce, Fuerte como el café.
So follow her—
When the road seems impossible,
When you are lonely, lost, and ready to give up.
Look to her,
To the Guerreras who came before,
To show you the beauty within the folds you hold.
Listen to her,
When the voices in your head are unsure or unloving,
When they tell you that you are not enough.
Grow with her,
Because you can.
You, too, are a Guerrera,
Born of both land and city, of earth and sky.
You carry within you the strength of all those before you,
And you, too, will rise.
Together, we rise.
Together, we thrive.
Together, we will feel the warmth of the sun,
Kissing the caramel upon our skin,
Knowing that we are not just survivors—
We are warriors,
Guerreras,
And we will win.
Mydalis Vera is the author of Warrior, Guerreras Latina Lifestyle B(V)logger Guerrera Writer LLC