lydy | Occupation poem

Differences

They told you

“When it happens to you, it will be different.”

And of course, you believed them. Why would you not?

They had been where you have not been. You believed.

But when happened,

You wondered why they had bothered.

When the invaders were in your city,

On your bike paths

In your grocery store,

When they came for your people, your neighbors

Your friends

It was unimaginable.

It was different.

You want to grab

Your friends and loved ones who live elsewhere,

You want to warn them, you want to tell them

“When it happens to you, it will be different.”

You want to protect them.

But the truth

Which you are staring at

Is that it is not different.

It’s just local.