After the Parade is gone

The last float

Has long gone

The band has played it’s last song

The crowd has dispersed

And you’ve been

Rendered inconsequential

Singled out from the masses

You’re but a speck

A sparkle of confetti

Left on the ground

For the wind to carry away.

It’s the exploration of self

That drew me in

The experimentation, the freedom, the bravery,

That I admire and long for.

Each of us,

On different paths,

A different milestone

In our individual walks

Yet, together we stand,

In the fight and in the celebration

Regardless of where we have been and where we are going.

I am here, standing in the unity,

Embracing the solidarity,

Surrounded by those who felt the weight of the oppression

The Tightening grip on our very souls

We are tired.

We are exhausted.

We have been watered down for the comfort of others,

Suppressed into conformity

for the sake of not wanting to remind everyone else of their mediocrity

So that others don’t have to try to understand us

That would be too much effort on their parts.

Too much effort to even acknowledge and accept us.

I am here with my people

The different pieces to the puzzle of my soul

The culmination of all that I will ever be,

All that I wish to be

And all that I have been.

All around us

Vibrates the potential

for the lives we can create for ourselves

The last float

Has long gone

The band has played it’s last song

The crowd has dispersed

And you’ve been

Rendered inconsequential

Singled out from the masses

You’re but a speck

A sparkle of confetti

Left on the ground

For the wind to carry away.