This is Why, by Keana Aguila Labra

From Aracelis Girma’s ‘Jacaranda’:
 She said, “but tell me a story that did not begin with

love.”
 
 This is why

my hands were clean

before and after
 the bathroom was stained with
 my mistake, is what they will call it
 my sin, is what they mean.

This is why
 the decision was already made,
 yet my feet unmoving laid
 against the pavement
 Why do we hesitate?
 Why do we drown ourselves
 with the dirt of their guilt?
 The decision was already made.

This is why
 I drove alone
 but you’re not alone,
 with the mud of their vitriol
 spilling out of every orifice,

I somehow
 made it to the clinic
 
 but you’re not alone,
 they tried to tell me
 but the decision was already made
 the decision was mine to make
 

This is why
 my hands were clean,
 remain clean,
 and will forever be
 clean.