PHOTO PROVIDED Joe Pacheco

Mami, I sold the lots

But I kept the dream.

For five hundred down

And fifty a month forever

A piece of treeless swamp —

Mami, I sold the lots.

A three bedroom palace

With mango and orange trees:

Puerto Rico in USA.

Mami, I kept the dream.

They kept flying you down

For champagne weekends

And sucker exchanges.

Mami, I sold the lots.

Tropical salsa sun

To warm your final days,

And star-spiced nights —

Mami, I kept the dream.

The old Florida shell game

Of trading you up and away,

Developer three card Monte,

Mami, I sold the lots.

Sapphire Gulf of blue and teal

Just like el mar Caribe,

Lets me see you always,

Mami, I kept the dream.

Gulf American went under,

And because I didn’t believe then,

For one fifth of what you paid,

Mami, I sold the lots

And drove away, but never stopped

Looking for paradise

And now, so many years later,

Mami, I’m living your dream.