[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 99 (Friday, June 16, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1277]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING PORSHIA MARIE ZABALA

                                 ______


                       HON. ESTEBAN EDWARD TORRES

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, June 16, 1995

  Mr. TORRES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Porshia Marie 
Zabala, a 13-year-old student from West Covina, CA.
  Like most young adults, Marie enjoys playing sports, roller skating, 
and being among friends. Marie is uniquely blessed with an 
extraordinary talent to write poetry. Her poetry is inspired by a 
childhood filled with mixed messages of love and divorce, happiness and 
loneliness, and life and death. Her mother, Irene Zabala, and her 
grandparents are the pillars of support that motivate her creative 
spirit. Her letter to me conveyed the bond of love and devotion she has 
for her family.
  Part of her family included her godfather, Nino Arthur. Porshia spent 
many hours by his bedside before he died of AIDS in 1991. His death was 
hard on her and inspired the following poem:

                       (By Porshia Marie Zabala)

     Sometimes I want to cry.
     Sometimes I want to scream.
     And sometimes I'm just not me.
     All my troubles seemed so-so-far away.
     Now they're all here to stay.
     Just so suddenly
     I'm not the girl I used to be.
     Now there's a shadow hanging over me.
     There's no way I could get you to stay.
     God just wanted to take you away.
     I never knew what to say, when you were dying. Sick in bed.
     And when I helped brighten your life, your smile helped 
           brighten mine, in many different ways.
     But, now that you're gone, those three words I had to say 
           never really came out the right way.
     So now I'll just say, I Love You, in that very special way.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Porshia 
for nomination as Poet of the Year for 1995 by the International 
Society of Poets. I wish Porshia continued success with her poetry and 
future endeavors.

                          ____________________