Do you see me?

I was a boy once.

I can remember the blissful carelessness of summer.

Warm days with cool breezes.

Meals full of laughter, where tears came from joy

And the overflow of everything that was right and good.

These days were not frequent and often fleeting

But they were,

And they were beautiful.

It was another world

Another time

Another me.

 

Now you see me,

Or rather, you don’t.

You have never considered that I was a boy.

A boy with a mother that nursed me,

A father who hoped I would grow to be a man and make him proud.

 

Now, you don’t see me

You turn away

You smell me and scowl

You avoid my eyes, because if you were to see inside of me you would see yourself.

Looking, or not looking at me reflects more of you not me

And this scares you

 

You are not so different than me

But you consider me a different species

 

Do you see me?

 

If you knew my story,

Would you choose to look?

If I bathed or or changed my clothes,

Would you dare to care?

 

If only a small amount of water would make me human,

Are you not the one who is inferior to me?

You refuse me something so small and yet transformative

 

We are not so different

 

But, you don’t see me

 

We are not so different

 

You could be me

I hope it never come to you

But more that that, I wish for you a heart

To see that there is more to me that what your eyes alone can see.

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