I wonder what I did to you,

woman of colour, defined by race.

 

Was it the whiteness of my skin

that offended you? Or maybe it

was the whiteness of my attitude

that I knew it all as Colonial boy,

or that I judged too much.

 

You, of First Nations, saw a different

me than the one shaving in the mirror,

a me stripped of the virtues

of which I am proud.

 

But what that me is I will never know.

The mystery remains for the conversation

ended in silent resolve to seek no more.

 

And so two beings of noble worth are

consigned to silence and no singing at all.

 

16/9/2020