For You Too Were Strangers in the Land of Egypt

I learn to go away
out into the common air,
out doors
where I don't even
own myself.

I will go somewhere away.
The habit is inserted deep
like a shiv under my flesh.
I will find small comforts
in places that don't answer me.

I will call it fresh air,
be healthy in the unpredictable
land of the stranger. They can
grab my body and take my life.
The air becomes wind.