When I Ran

When I ran, I found you

You didn't know me, hadn't seen me,

I don't think. 

I didn't think. 

I fled to your arms and begged you to hold me. 

You saw my bare feet on the burning tar. 

You heard my tongue struggle to imitate yours. 

You heard me, but more than hearing,

You saw me. 

You saw my friends come for me;

You protected me from them. 

When they tried to help, I said it was poison. 

I was wrong, but you listened, and that mattered. 

In that bureaucratic room with table fan and water in a glass brought from who knows where,

You showed me love. 

It helped to wash the medicine down:

Your water and your love.