Back To School

I see your friends
Mostly through pixels but
Some
Some I see in a memory
And at times I regret that 
They couldn’t be my friends too

Oh, the things I’ve missed
Am missing
Out on
The year I lost because of
What?

A little too much to drink
A little too much of
Trying to trust strangers
A bit of regret for never having trusted enough
And more regret for trusting too much

I wonder if they know
About what happened
About
What I was robbed of
Do you know?
A year of school
Dignity
Justice
Allies

And what was given?
Emotional scars and
Tattoos and
Memories of walls without mirrors
Bathrooms with no locks
And maybe just maybe
Men peeking through little reinforced windows
Looking

Perhaps seeing if what you did
Was quite enough to make me
Break for them too

Today I saw your sister
Still only through pixels but God
God 
If there is one
She looks just like you
And I have to remind myself

It isn’t her fault
Her hands aren’t yours but
God
Forbid another man does to her
What you did to me
Does she know?
Most women do
But it could
NEVER 
Be your own brother
NEVER be your own friend
Could it?

Do they consider the possibility
That it COULD be?

Someday the whole world will
Copyright © | Year Posted 2018

Poem

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