37
As a shiver down my spine
and a prick in my chest
because as I sat in Tudor houses
reading books in romance languages
and studying the economic
complexities
of systemic
oppression,
you stayed unseen,
locked into insecurity,
imprisoned by a foundationless world.
And as I sat,
speech planned,
talking points outlined,
I disregarded the years sitting in Tudor houses reading names you’d never heard of, and instead
I spoke of you,
and all the while,
I felt the guilt of forcing you to hold my hand,
even though it saved us,
because I knew,
deep down,
Iknew,
I knew
that they thought I was a visitor too.