there is this thing of us and always (the indelible)

there is this thing of us and always (the indelible)

“I have not betrayed Julia,” he said.
O'Brien looked down at him thoughtfully. “No,” he said; “no; that is perfectly true. You have not betrayed Julia.”

1984, George Orwell

“And anyone who/Tried to deny you must be out of their mind”—

“Green Eyes,” Coldplay, A Rush of Blood to the Head

when the rats come for me

strapped in cages to my face

and commanded to eat my tongue

and feast finally on my eyes

i will not deny you in word or deed

and even if they pick me bone-clean

there is this thing of us and always

that can never be erased by such fascism

but this is no declaration of a martyr

nothing about heroism or righteousness

this is the naked facing of the indelible

that forces gravity to bow and oceans to calm