Dream State

Let me be a dreamer,
that's what I asked of you,
to let me have that which was given to you at birth,

not because I deserved it,
though I did,

not because you felt sorry for me,
I found no worth in pity,

not because of anything other than the fact that it was rightfully mine,
just as it was yours,

and because I saw it for what it was,
and I saw my livelihood hinging on it,
and I hated a little bit that I had to request this from you,

because it was mine,
just as it was yours,
just as it was the weary, the poor, the rest of us etched on that sarcophagus,
because that is what it was,

and there was no dignity in deferral,
it meant my destiny was not my own,
and it was not yours,

it was somewhere in the triangle,
somewhere in the middle of it all,
where Washington's ambivalence came to die,

for good,

but without good reason---