The concrete remembers my weight Even when no one else does I sleep where the streetlights flicker Because darkness costs too much I had a home once With walls that didn’t echo With mornings that tasted like possibility Not recycled air and yesterday’s breath People pass me like I’m a stain on the world Eyes forward Stride wide As if suffering might cling to their shoes If they get too close I count the footsteps more than the hours Because footsteps have faces Hours don’t I’m one of the people you step over The ones you pretend you didn’t see I could be dying on this frozen pavement And you’d only hurry past me I’m one of the people you step over Skin cracked by a thousand cold nights But you fear the dirt on my fingertips More than the hunger in my eyes There’s a man across the street Holding a coffee worth more than my week He won’t look at me He stirs his sugar like a ritual Of forgetting A woman drops a bag of bread Not for me— Just by accident She glares when I reach for it As if my need insults her hands I swallow pride until it tastes like blood And pretend this corner is a choice Because lies are warmer than truth I’m one of the people you step over The ghosts you fear will speak You tighten your grip on your privilege Like I’m trying to steal your week I’m one of the people you step over And still you judge the way I crawl But falling isn’t ugly— It’s refusing to see that is the sin of all You don’t know the names I’ve lost The beds I buried dreams in You don’t know the voices I answer When the night asks why I’m still here But you’ll judge the dirt on my knees Long before you ask my story I’m one of the people you step over But I used to be someone’s flame I used to laugh so hard I cried Before the world forgot my name I’m one of the people you step over But I still wake up, still try, still breathe And every breath is a rebellion Against the ease with which you leave If you knew who I was Before the fall Before the cold Before the silence Maybe you’d see me now Not as a shadow But as a story Still trying To be told
