Thursday, March 28Royal Holloway's offical student publication, est. 1986

A Future Nearby

We met in a riot. 

We stood at the centre of the universe bathed in colours that sang as we sang and fought as we fought. 

We were proud and wild and angry, at such a young age

We had so much to feel 

And we felt so much. 

I noticed your fierceness. 

How your pink hair was held up by the honey sun 

Your green eyes glared at a world which closed its eyes when we got hurt for 

Being.

We marched for the boy in hospital and for the boy who sat beside him.

You brandished your sign to the sky and to God and it asked 

‘how can you hate love?’ 

It was a carnival of pain and beauty. 

We held hands in the crowd like children

Because we were children really. 

At twenty we had just introduced ourselves to the world, our names had just become our own

And you said yours was Jasmine

And so Jasmine met Fiona. 

I want to tell those small Jasmines and Fionas about the life we made.

That I crochet jumpers for you while a black and white cat dreams in my lap,

We watch each orange sun roll across the morning, marbles down wooden- floors

The tangerine rays smile at our artwork.

We keep bees and have honey in our porridge at breakfast. 

You win at scrabble and hold me with the hands that clawed this life from stone 

Because eventually the laws changed and the people understood and invited us round to dinner. 

Our neighbours helped us paint the house green and I taught Leo how to make pasta 

I held your hand at the funeral and you made soup for my brother when he got sick.

We wrap around each other to form one life. 

Time dyed our hair a new colour, mine is short and you wear yours in a bun.  

We made a world like Gods and fought like Gods too. 

We sculpted a future for ourselves and now gift it onwards,

After all 

The future wasn’t quite so far away. 

Photo by eberhard 🖐 grossgasteiger on Unsplash