frankly this world is not beholden to me
Camille Bustos Bismonte

the sun brushed against my skin and
as i looked upon the city skyline, i thought
that i had taken the sun for granted
with all those late nights at work i realized
i had waded through life, and did not think much of it

the motions, like water, had brought me through
the smog, the smoke, and
the way it came in and out of my lungs
like familiar breaths of air
the honking, the petroleum, the hawkers

were silenced when they said it was done
and when the world stopped dancing
is when we hid

they said it was nothing to worry about
they said there would be loss
they said it would stop soon
and then there were arguments about who did what
and suddenly things weren’t as important anymore

we believed we were the masters of our own story
to love and to be loved, to celebrate and to be celebrated
and suddenly we have come to realize the jutting reality that
no, the world is not beholden to us

i am not transcendent,
i never was