don’t do this to us
don’t make us go with you, don’t carry us along
don’t make us hostage on that road into
the tangled trees
don’t shackle us to you please
this is yours & yours alone &
yes we see the fear & yes we see the guilt
but our breasts & backs are not your battlefields &
you must not leave bits of yourself on our skins
we have hearts too &
we have souls too &
we also hurt & we also grieve & God knows we can suffer
& we too have histories & days-to-come
just as awful & unknowable as yours
so please don’t take us with you
no don’t do this to us
don’t accomplice us to your particular pain
your ridiculous pain, we
have ankles & pasts & futures &
chasing us are fathers & husbands & children
& terminations too
& we can sometimes see no sun
open your wounds without us
make new wounds without us
& let us tend to the ones
you’ll make in us
we are not to be tied to your hunger
nor dragged into the tangled trees
we are not to be chained to you
when you step off that cliff
do this alone
this alone is yours
be brave even as we are brave
if you allow us to be brave
& go through our days
without, for this moment, you.
.
Niall Griffiths
Picture Nick Victor
.