Back to the Past by Amanda Gorman

 

 

At times even blessings will bleed us.

There are some who lost their lives
& those who were lost from ours,

Who we might now re-enter,
All our someones summoned softly.

The closest we get to time travel
Is our fears softening,

Our hurts unclenching,
As we become more akin

To kin, as we return
To who we were

Before we actually were
Anything or anyone—

That is, when we were born unhating
& unhindered, howling wetly

With everything we could yet become.
To travel back in time is to remember

When all we knew of ourselves was love.