i can not call you mine
#
we are not
owner
property
i can not
tell you what to be
your identity is not
entirely, or even mostly, me
i can not call you mine
i do not own you
you are not a thing
i can not call you mine
you are a person
choosing, changing, conscious
producer, possessor and proponent
of your own unique personality
i can not
box or bottle your being
you are mother
noting and nurturing the needs
of countless children, both those biologically
ours and those not borne through your body
i can not
claim your accomplishments
you are warrior
engaging enemies, attacking attitudes
destroying domination, voluntarily
wielding your own weapons
i can not
call your shots
you are worker
toiling through tasks, acquiring
knowledge, learning skills, providing
productive labor for our liberation
i can not
expropriate your wealth
##
i can not call you mine
it is more
than enough
to be able to say
that i have been blessed
to share space, time and struggle
with you
because we are together
and kiss, or intimately and
openly reveal our dreams and fears
that does not mean we own
each other, it is surely
simply a sign of trust,
an index of our identification
with the inviolable integrities
of each of our individual selves
no one body can claim or own us,
not even we ourselves, for
we belong to our people,
our past and the future
we collectively develop in
these contemporary
conditions and circumstances,
you and i belong to the
ideals of a new world and the
constancy of conscious change
and thus cognizant of our worth
we willingly give of ourselves
to those with whom we
share struggle
i can not call you mine
—kalamu ya salaam