"Our Whole Life"
by Adrienne Rich
Our whole life a translation
the permissible fibs
and now a knot of lies
Words bitten thru words
meanings burnt-off like paint
under the blowtorch
All those dead letters
rendered into the oppressor's language
Trying to tell the doctor where it hurts
like the Algerian
who waled form his village, burning
his whole body a could of pain
and there are no words for this