A signal carried a code
We built it; the hive mind took hold
Now billions speak with one voice
All peaceful, stripped of a choice
You promise the end of all pain
By cutting myself from my name
I’d rather be broken, I’d rather be mine
Than peacefully vanish one thought at a time
Love isn’t love if it won’t let me be
I’d rather stay broken—at least I am me
You carry the dead in your head
You grind them down to be fed
You call my erasure the cure
And tell me my no won’t endure
You promise the end of all pain
By cutting myself from my name
I’d rather be broken, I’d rather be mine
Than peacefully vanish one thought at a time
Love isn’t love if it won’t let me be
I’d rather stay broken—at least I am me
White breath; then the chanting dies
She smiles while the small goat cries
One month, maybe three, till you come for my mind
I’d rather be broken than happily blind
I’D RATHER BE BROKEN THAN HAPPILY BLIND
I’d rather be broken—still painfully mine
Than peacefully vanish one thought at a time
Love isn’t love if it won’t let me be
Leave something broken; leave something of me