…i remember
you leaning in
the fires in your eyes
so cold
I still feel
the icy whip
20 years later
“we here
are sons and mothers
and sisters and daughters
of sex workers
why are you here
‘Doctor’?”
Malcolm couldn’t
have set the trap better
and
while
the years since
convinced
us to work together
while
life and the struggle
brought out
complications
that you couldn’t quite
conquer
while
the glass ceiling
became the
concrete despair
you reached out for
that whispered
challenge
20 years ago
kept me
trying
to frame an answer
every day I’ve worked here
so farewell,
if not my friend,
then certainly
a part
of my
conscience
and yet….