That it helps

To remind you 

That this is not happening right now 

That this is the ghost of long ago

Come back here to remind us 

That we will never be free 

But that we can try to be,

Or that we can at least taste safety 

If we see reality for what it is 

Then there are times 

That no matter what I say  

It cannot not even touch the sides, 

When the ghosts are ruled by a fear of being erased, 

Then platitudes don’t make them kinder, 

it makes them angrier 

and fills their malice 

and feeds their determination to get what is owed to them. 

And in these times we still have to,

Together, 

find hope that there is something to salvage,

that there is a reality somewhere waiting for us that is different to this,

But this is the hardest thing I have ever had to do, 

And yes I am doing it with you, 

And yes I will continue to do it for you,

But, 

If I let myself dream, 

it is of a silence where I simply do not have to do any of it at all