A Hunchback’s Pledge

And when I take this path
I want to be ever so much careful.

To break no twig;
To lift no stones;

To take nothing;
And eat nothing

That will change me.

To remember that I come unasked
And unwelcome.

That you are a foreign country
And stand among my enemies.

That before your staring eyes
I stand naked;

Unloved.

That if I bring no harm,
I may leave unharmed;

But that if you take my hand,
I will be done.



29 July 2008
Pagadian City