you are my cousin, my aunt
you are my brother-in-law, my sister
you are the boy who sat next to me
on the classroom bench
you’re the friend I frolicked around with
in the church square
in public gardens
in the back row of class
when, do you reckon, did we start colouring everything
in red and blue
discarding the rest of the rainbow?
when, do you reckon, will we understand
(will we ever?)
that the ones who silenced you today
might smother me tomorrow
if I dared to stop applauding them
that the ones who spat in your face today
might deface your children tomorrow?
how did we not notice
that while you and I quarrelled over
which was the prettier, red or blue,
someone grabbed the rest of the colours
and ran off, taking the box and all?
Nadia Mifsud (born 1976) Malta
Translated by Miriam Calleja
Source: Poetry International
you are my brother-in-law, my sister
you are the boy who sat next to me
on the classroom bench
you’re the friend I frolicked around with
in the church square
in public gardens
in the back row of class
when, do you reckon, did we start colouring everything
in red and blue
discarding the rest of the rainbow?
when, do you reckon, will we understand
(will we ever?)
that the ones who silenced you today
might smother me tomorrow
if I dared to stop applauding them
that the ones who spat in your face today
might deface your children tomorrow?
how did we not notice
that while you and I quarrelled over
which was the prettier, red or blue,
someone grabbed the rest of the colours
and ran off, taking the box and all?
Nadia Mifsud (born 1976) Malta
Translated by Miriam Calleja
Source: Poetry International
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