birthright by Sabrina Hunter

to lift this rock off of me was my birthright.
but you.
you found a reason to bury me.
every day giving me a reason to carry more.
i beg you to stop.
these rocks are too heavy-
ill drop.
the weight of everyone's world collapses-
onto me.

but i still plead.

the weight of blame shifts off from its owner,
onto this pile of rubble that i lay beneath.
now i cant breath.
get me out of this cave!

i scream .
im suffocating.

as much as I dig there's no way out,
the light that streamed through is gone,
there's no night or day-
just waiting to be done.
the air is thin.
i cant move.
taking each breath as my last-

i quit.

let the world take me.
my birthright?
take others' weight as my own.
and when its done-
my last breath may finally leave us all-

weightless



Sabrina Hunter is a 2023 graduate from the University of California, Riverside with a Bachelors in English. Despite only recently having obtained her degree, she has been writing for herself since she was twelve, and later found a passion for poetry in a creative writing class when she was seventeen. She has been writing poetry ever since, but has only recently submitted them for publication.