Safe with Them

[dukealien]

Sitting next to them
"Can you stay a bit longer"
I want to feel safe

The ambiguities here are fabulous.  Who is speaking (or thinking)? Is it they ("them") who speaks in quotes?  Is it the poem's speaker wanting to help them feel safe, or wanting to feel safe in their company?  It goes so many ways, but all involve the same relationship.  Nice!

(And is the plural "them" merely the progressive woke-gloss for singular "him" or "her," or an actual number greater than one?  Parents, for example?)