I Will No Longer Bear Your Burden

You want me to remember

everything that I want to forget:

you want me to surrender,

every iota of regret.

You want me to hurry up,

to get rid of all my hurt:

you want me to pussyfoot,

around the mud, the sex, and the dirt.

You want me to be polite,

to be obtuse, and to self-obstruct:

you want me to electrocute

myself, and to self-destruct.

Well: no more of your fashionistas,

no more of your self-control:

no more, then, of your mercy;

no more, of your cheap parole.

What I say now I have thought about.

What I say will forever be understood.

What I say will not be forgotten,

like you and all your friends would.

I am pledging today to cease allegiance,

to you and your family's crime;

I am promising myself to take my vengeance,

by not acknowledging your grime.

What you want, is civility:

what you want is human regret.

What I am is humility;

what I give, I can beget.

I will no longer bear your burden,

of self-flagellation by the state:

I will no longer stare unbidden,

into molestation and child-rape.

I will no longer come untethered

by the very sight and sound of you.

I will no longer lightly tread,

before the floor creaks:

because we're so through.

**

In memory of the 215 children, whose graves were found on the grounds of the former Kamloops Residential School, in British Columbia.

From "The Womb" by Daniel Viragh.