"I can't breathe"-A poem for the silenced

By Sweetelishaxoxo

I’m slowing..

Not being able to see

I’m slowly losing my thoughts.

I’m screaming-but no one hears me.

I’m looking into the eyes of others…

Still no one sees me

Does anyone hear me?

Does anyone see me?

Why are you recording me?

Help me?

Can you hear me yelling?

I’m calm, but I’m still being mistreated.

I’m slowly losing a battle,

With my hands tied up

And you still…don’t see me.

Heaven sees me now

Looking at everyone now.

My heart stops for those in the flight, too-

Because no one was fighting for me.

I wrote this on may29,2020, during a time when the world was grieving, burning, and trying to breathe again. As someone who grew up in silence- literally as the child of deaf parents - this poem came from a place deep inside me. The kind of silence that kills isn’t always physical. Sometimes its emotional, systemic, and generational.