Call Us What We Carry

by Amanda Gorman

Anxiety is a living body, Poised beside us like a shadow. It is the last creature standing, The only beast who loves us Enough to stay.

These words need not be red for our blood to run through them.

We might not be fully sure of all that we are. & yet we have endured all that we were.

There truly is a unity That requires no “they” For us to be threatened by. This is the very definition of love. We’ve never had to hate a human To hug another, never had to be fearful To be fond of the hearts beating out to us.

It’s not what was done that will haunt us, But what was withheld, What was kept out & kept away. The hand clenched tightly With every black blow. We cannot fathom all these phantoms. But do not fear our ghosts. Learn from them.

We prayed for a miracle. What we got was a mirror.