All my life I’ve been around

Niggas who think they can take something 

From me

My skin

Rips at the sight of them

Their teeth

A doorway I always enter

No knock

I only come with myself. 

They turn my gifts

Into compulsions

Where did I learn

To keep my head down?

My eyes drift to Paris, Rome

I wait to gently untie the ribbons 

Around your wrists

Replace them with a prayer

My breath runs away

You do not miss it

You are too far under water

To find the burning surface

And there is a galaxy between us 

But I can’t find space

To breathe