The Scientist by Sally

"I advance it therefore as a suspicion only, that the blacks, whether
originally a distinct race, or made distinct by time and circumstances,
are inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind."
--Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia (1781-2)

i knew his way of measuring
just so
the length of a field and
my arm

he stenciled stars there before
he tied silk to my wrists
a gift, from France
for warmth
where his torso couldn't reach

pressing in, he told me
"What a Day"
he'd had holding the world
together

for tyrants not yet born
and begged with hard fingers
giving little--just a little--
space to fight:

he begged me to love him.