We've Earned These Stripes

We’ve Earned These Stripes

It's Pride Month, and yes I am proud

For living who we are is more than living a lie

It’s being justly confident to be out in the open

Brave enough to admit even if simply to ourselves

Yet still you wonder what the colours are for

How we could steal the last drops of the rainbow

Putting labels on the days you’d rather collect

Forgetting what we’ve fought hard for

Those with their lives recognized from the start

Cherishing all that we’re told makes us equal

And born with a blanket to keep you safe

You’ve never been invisible to God’s given rights

So yes, at times like these we are taking stock

Because every one of those colours has a meaning

Perhaps a little different than you see them

As your eyes have never fully viewed our truth

We’ll start at the top and work our way down

By the end you’ll no longer be able to deny

We have earned these colourful stripes

And I will have opened wide your mind

You see, we have purple hearts for our warriors too

All who were wounded and those who had to hide

For they were too afraid to live who they were

Or were denied by the role society played

Next we have blue, not just for the skies

But for eyes that cried and looked away

Full of shame and unable to say

Their hearts rose and set in secret

There’s green for the grass that grows

Under feet roaming abundant wild pastures

To let their hearts blossom and seed

Without the sprouts of hate and blame

We have yellow for the flowers we pick

And give to our lovers in silent reverie

Every petal representing the abundance of life

Treasured instead of being left to wilt

As sweet as fruit that dot full trees

Orange wraps itself like a ribbon on a gift

Holding secure and oh so tight

Everything we have ever longed for

Red the colour of deepest passions

The fierce intensity of long kisses

That linger on lips that whisper

For all our souls have ever desired

In the end, each shade runs through our veins

Their colours as vital as our existence

For they represent a never ending pride

So for us you’ll find, it’s more than just a rainbow

~ sydney m conover

11:36p

5.16.2021