To those who never read me. (a poem)

Remember the ones 
you passed in the hall,
never stopping to talk 
or know them at all?

The bullied ones 
you tried to ignore, 
the smaller kids
 you pushed to the floor.

That awkward kid
 who didn’t fit in,
 who tried to make friends
 but just couldn’t win.

The tender boy 
who avoided your stare
 as he giggled with girls 
because he fit there.

I was like them, 
though buried inside 
for pressure at home 
had taught me to hide.

I faced my fear 
and learned to fight back
 to take a punch 
and verbal attacks.

I learned to mimic 
and act like them 
to build better walls
 that hide who I am.

The person you knew 
was a reflection of you,
and the smile I wore,
well, that was fake, too.

When I came out,
 I lost many friends
 “because of your sin,”
 they’d say in the end.

Some never saw 
the person inside. 
They just couldn’t see 
beyond all the lies.

They don’t understand 
the life I have lived, 
how I was made, 
the gift that it is.

To them, I’m a freak, 
a thing to be mocked 
and not to be welcomed
 as one of the flock.

But a few, they were different,
saw through my disguise
 to the person within
 and didn’t cut ties.

To them, I am thankful 
for seeing in me 
a person worth having 
in their life yet to be.

~ elr