This is yet another new poem.
you stole my words
my voice
my language
and i hate you for that
more than for what you did to me
because my words are all i have
you ripped out my tongue
ground it beneath your feet
and it took me seven years to regrow it
but the new tongue is never the same as the old
never as fluent
sometimes it forgets how to speak
and so you silence me still
half a lifetime away
i screamed inside for years
but couldn’t be heard
i still can’t scream out loud
my tongue can’t bear it
but at least i can speak my truth
my new tongue can do that much
and that is enough
