I am not my pain

Unapologetic

I am a spectrum of color

Embodied...

Some are not ready for that type of pain.

Some will never wish to wake up

Cannot wake up

To themselves

Painted shades of grey by their oppressors.

But I got to feel it

And so I dance toward the pain

I sing a melody with the pain

To guide it back to me

Back home.

To show others how to run alongside it.

The pain is our history

It shaped me

And I will feel it all

But it is not me.

Not all of it

You can get lost in that kind of pain

But I sing to the tune of my heart’s colors

Painting the rainbow I’ve been blessed with

With pride

All over their ignorance

And exhale that pain out of my queer soul.