If you listen to science
The scale is predictable,
As if this might soften the blows
That strike, again, and again.
We are told what to expect.
She turns her face from the truth
As if to evade the slaps
That come with callous speed,
With unexpected ferocity.
We were warned but still they hurt.
In her blank, bewildered eyes,
She wants to crawl away, to hide.
Yet there is no escape.
I might tell her science is right.
But I see myself in her eyes.
