To whom it may concern

I do not need you to understand
I know that is far too much to ask
I don't want you to have to know
the gruesome detail of our daily lives

I do not need you to understand
The civil wars that daily here are fought
And I do not need you to approve
The ways that we survive

I know you will not understand
So please don't try so desperately hard
to pry open our hearts and peer inside
merely to gawk at what you find

I do not know if you understand
this has nothing to do with you
We are just breathing in and out
and this unconventional exchange
of oxygen is not for your shocked view

I do not understand
how you know everything
I don't want you to
and why you think we want your words
when you spit them out before you chew