You Could Start by Falsely Assuming You’re Safe, See How That Feels

Everyone on the lookout
For what they need to feel safe—

You lived on their planet, immune
To their toxicity, if not

To all their intricate agonies
And suffering they’d cause each other,

And you’re beginning to suspect they won’t,
Ever, any of them, find what they need,

Given each and every of them’s a threat
At least to self, if not to anyone else.

They’ll seek out their most fool-proof strategies,
And then, convinced they’ve made themselves secure

They’ll fall to mental illness, to fights
Inside the fort, inside the silo,

Or some aspect of their planning
Will unforeseen a circumstance,

Or it will turn out they don’t
Have a clue how to feel safe.