When I leave you
I'm not lost
We just have different paths
With different cost
We are just on different ground
Your’s is easy
Smooth and round
Sure, your’s might have pebbles
And sticks within it’s mud
But no one else believes me
When I say my path is lined with blood
The sacrifices of millions
To make this path our lands
They bled
And tinted the red sands
They ground the glass,
beneath their feet
To make it safe to tread
So, no retreat
Even when I cry, I think
I'm glad it's here
Without this path
I'd lose to fear
They did this for me
Gave me somewhere to move
They did this, not just for me
They did it to prove
That we have a path worth walking
Just as much as you.
And as my calluses carry
Me down to an ocean blue
Maybe you should look
And wonder
Who paved your path for you?

Talianna Rubin is an English major with a concentration in Professional Writing. Additionally, she is minoring in Graphic Design. Her poem "My Path" was inspired by a difficult conversation with a family member, in which they expressed harmful beliefs about minorities. Frustrated by this, and by the world's inability to see the struggles of the oppressed, Talianna aimed to convey the suffering that so many are ignorant to.