I won't admit to it
I won't claim to understand
A suffering I've never underwent
Undergone by those who can't forget
What do I have to complain
There's a gap in experiences
A difference of privileges
My privilege and their loss
A bridge I cannot cross
What can I call forth to compare
My sovereignty, their poverty
My hope, their chains
Their pains
Their tear stains
Plain to see on their cheeks
In a puddle
Muddled in blood and ashes
I have words
But what are they to realities
Scratching fruitlessly at the surface
Of their worlds
I don't know what it is like
To staunch a loved one's bleeding
To keep my head above salty water
To bake under an unforgiving sun
Listening to the pleading of my neighbor
To be robbed
Beaten
Violated and abused
Accused and mistreated
Forgotten
Buried alive, out of sight
Out of memory
My words say nothing real
Empty insights, false perspectives
I do not understand
I can never understand
So I won't say I do