Status of Residence

She slides the letter across the table,

says "Read this. Tell me what it wants."

The letterhead's official, formal, stable.

Status of residence. I'm at fault

for not understanding what it means

beyond the words. Status of residence

repeated three times. What are the scenes

the form is building? What does it want from us?

I can read English fine. Each line.

But I don't know how to explain

that the system wasn't built with someone like her in mind,

that the translation fails here, and I can't help her again.

The date is real. The number's real.

We have until then.

But I don't know what to say to make her feel

like we'll survive this. So I read it again.