Poem On Bus
By: Jehangir Saleh
Written: June 3, 2005

Moving toward home
On the same bus
I took to school everyday

The night was gentle
Other passengers non-threatening
And for the first time
I allowed myself to say
I was free

My left arm is numb
I feel my veins narrowing
Soon the left side of my body will lose feeling
Except what I choose to remember
To re-create the feeling of touch
Feeling will be memory

A passenger stabs me in the arm
Old Russian woman to my left screams
red of my life stains her hand made dress
as if he womb was bleeding

As my left arm become a piece of meat
And the ambulance arrives
I remember what it felt like to be happy