If only Women will allow you
to take away the rights
their mothers fought for,
and take up — willingly —
the shackles of old.
To surrender all hope
of freedom, or a life 
outside the home.
To die of sepsis
from a pregnancy
that has already ended.

 

To live or die at your whim.

 

If only Queers will allow you
to roll the world back
to the days before Stonewall,
and climb back — willingly —
into the closet.
To deny trans kids
the care they deserve
and let them fall into despair.
To be strung up
on a barbed wire fence
for daring to live honestly.

 

To live or die at your whim.

 

If only Black Americans will allow you
to bring back segregation,
and tolerate — willingly —
the old slurs.
To lose the rights
that their parents fought for.
To be lynched 
for a casual accusation.

 

To live or die at your whim.

 

If only the Immigrants will allow you
renege on this country’s promise
and return — willingly —
to the countries they fled
in fear of their lives.
To be condemned
to torture and imprisonment
for the crime of having a tattoo.
To have their families sundered
and scattered
to the four winds.

 

To live or die at your whim.

 

Your revolution was never
going to be bloodless.
Any fool could see that.
People are already bleeding,
already dying.
Of starvation.
Of disease.
Of violence.
Of despair.

 

All so you can live
in a world of straight white men
floating on a sea of oppression.

 

A sea of blood.

 

How could any decent human
allow that?