Forever Stay is a posthumous collection of heartfelt poems, dreams, and visions from the pen of Raquel Dawn Trigo (1982-2004). The writings, "visuals of my soul" as she described them, span the brief timeline of her journey from childhood to teenage adolescence, from young womanhood to maturity. They reflect a rainbow of different inspirations and influences. Some are quite innocent and straightforward, while others are more thoughtful and contemplative. From love sonnets and idyllic dreams so typical of many young girls, to deeper subjects and yearnings that reflected a maturity tempered by her own battles with depression, her love of the land (and sea), her appeals and battle-cry for the meek and downtrodden, her unwavering belief in God, and, always, an affection and tenderness for children and their innocence. Her later writings, oftentimes mystical and dream-like, herald the pains and struggles of common people everywhere, and her mention of fatalistic subjects must be placed in the context of some one who, in daily life, refused to burden anyone with her own problems or issues.
We have compiled the poems as chronologically as possible beginning with her earliest poems written as a young girl from about age 13 to 16; continuing with the second chapter written in her late teens, and concludes with the third chapter written over the last three years of her life.
Throughout all of her writings there remains, like an isolated rock that rises defiantly on the distant horizon, the central theme of her basic goodness and inherent caring nature that had no boundary and never surrendered.
-Tom & Linda Trigo
"And though I am gone,
see my visions,
not mytears.
Hear my laughter,
not my cries.
Feel my love,
not my loneliness,
Think of my dreams,
Not my troubles."
- RDT