Don’t give me that look!

She gave me a strange look

As if the whole world locked in this gaze

A foreigner too, I suppose

With an accent as alienated as mine

Not acceptable to everyone here

I felt

Emanating jealousy

From those brown eyes behind the veil

Wanting the things

I’ve worked so hard for

So, I won’t give them up easily

For something you desire

With your hands yearning to touch

All my products and cards

It’s personal – this antagonistic approach

Anachronistic like a Greek tragedy

Where the eternal conflict is heard

Envy, hatred, punishment

For nothing at all

Better genes, broader horizons, lots of energy

Directed towards other things

Than normal people think every day

Food, sex, television, kids, holidays

What if only to brag?

Where were they and what they saw

With their little eyes

Without even taking a closer look at the intricacies

Because you can only discover them

If you soak yourself

Deeply in the culture

Language and other people crave

Over there

Only then can you get acquainted

With someone outlandish to you

Letting go of that cloud of jealousy

Dispense it freely in the air

Without troubling your ancestry

*

May – September 2022

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Thank you for reading!