There are no people here

how many days of my life have I spent alone, working towards a goal no one understood?

to be here, living and writing in this country?

how many people did I have to forget until I was brought to your eyes?

your eyes that get round when you watch me

and to know that this is my time?

when you are next to me and you are quiet

there is nothing for me to do

there are no more sacrifices to make or mountains to climb

When you speak like this,

or call me like this,

or go silent like this,

it defies human nature

I thought a man would be weak

I thought he would lie or steal or humiliate

you thought it would matter how you appeared to others

You thought strangers would look at you with judgement

with rules and laws that you could not win

I thought a woman should be like this, and a man like this

but tomorrow morning I will walk a new path to a new town

and find that the people in the town I lived

don’t live here anymore

There are no people anywhere,

there are no officers left who used to order rules and regulations on me

those rules I’ve learned about people since I was a teenager

there are no outside people living here

in the house you built for me with your philosophy

There is no one to impress, or fight, or bargain with, or wait for

there are no people here anymore