Behind a Number

Dear stranger,
let's hide
behind the data.

Let's hide
behind those numbers:
bold, italics,
it does not matter,
as long as we have 
the numbers to rally
behind.

It does not matter
that we are still invisible
and they do not see us
in the face.

We do not have names
stranger.

Names, we cannot hide behind them;
fonts cannot hide us,
words put together in sentences
sounds, rhythms, melodies,
cannot hide us NO.

Numbers and machines alone
can keep us invisible.

Come stranger,
it's still not safe for us
to have a face with a name,
a voice with a pitch
of our own.

Dear stranger,
the numbers
so dear to us,
hold on to them.

I wonder
for how long
behind this shield
of data,
numbers,
truths
and myths,
scientifically hidden,
spiritually absent,
mysteriously deaf and mute,
dead or alive,
like a number
dear stranger. 

J.GJ.
June 2023