We were just two girls in a dark schoolyard

Staring at one another with scared eyes.

The boys who caught us kissing stood there like

Statues in the dusk, then one hit me—hard.

Doubled over, all my air leaving me,

I saw green grass stuck to his white sneaker

And thought of gas chambers and world leaders

With power hungry hearts and mobs to feed.

My ribs were bruised and my heart was broken

By the names screamed into the air at us.

Why? I thought but I had no air to speak

And to this day those words are unspoken.

So what did we have left to us from love?

Blood in my teeth, gravel in her cheek.