the window doesn't open cleanly.
it drags and resists against the frame,
like it remembers being shut for a reason,
like it knows what happens when things are left open too long.

when it finally gives,

i learned 
life liberty 
the pursuit of happiness 
before i learned 
how often a promise 
can hesitate 

no one mentioned 
how often you’d have to prove 

How can i think,
when i sit in classrooms built by men
to teach us how to think like them,
and i try—
god, i try to conjugate freedom
in a language that was never mine,
in a room that doesn't feel like home,