Dear Society, Can You Hear My Heart Beat?
I find myself flipping through the pages,
Web pages, News pages, Books pages,
and all I see are the words lifting away
to cover me;
An attempt to stereotype humanity
into different divisions
of hate and discrimination.
I am tired of closing a browser
with dread sitting deep in my gut
and dragging me through
days of eyes staring at me
but truly not seeing me.
I am Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man;
I have become Mary Shelley's Frankenstein,
Desperate for them to understand
that beneath this veil I wear is
a dreaming brain coding all
your hate into her subconscious
and beneath this chest is a heart so eager
to contribute to something bigger
it never takes time to rest
Ba Dum
Ba Dum
Ba Dum
Do you hear it?
Embedded in your steely flesh and bone is one too.
And it reverbrates with human understanding,
if you'd just take a stand and see:
I am not what the media portrays me.
I am not the misinformed commentary.
Or random unneccesary rumors.
I grew up in a household of five
living life, blissfully ignorant
to what the bullying meant,
with their teasing consent demanding
my brutal isolation
from the rest of an elementary school population.
It never phased me.
Because I grew up taught that words of kindness
proved greater than acts of violence,
that any hatred to float out of mouth
like a dagger of falsehood aimed for someone's heart
should be restrained against the sheath that are the lips.
"If you have nothing nice to say,
say nothing at all."
Why then did I wonder?
Were there scars along my back from verbal
attacks thrown by those who very well
targeted me as a formula of destruction and terrorism?
Why were there tear streaks stained
down my face, wishing they could
just wash away, erase all the written pessimism that clouded
a people who were simply misunderstood.
It's time you understand.
I grew up being taught to love your neighbor,
and the best for one another,
to cherish the blessings in life
and rejoice in the mercy of The One
who created us as a whole, together.
Yet each as unique pieces.
So that we may learn from each other,
live the world through our differences.
Why then?
When I was amidst people preoccupied with life's tasks,
just like me,
was I rejected by a mother as unsafe by merely
standing in line for my turn next?
Why then?
Did the world decide to follow
the ignorance of a few to spurn a million as
monsters?
And it is not just one people
but group after group
divided and conquered into opposite
of what they truly define to be.
We do not fit in a category.
They could be radiant,
but you would never get to see
shrouded in the blackness of your misconceptions.
It's time to see past stereotypical deceptions.
Tell me,
When Frankenstein's Monster first awoke feeling
desolate and abandoned,
did his heart not beat just as firmly?
Ba Dum
Ba Dum
Ba Dum
Will you ever hear it?
Comments
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reflection1I1
9 years ago
I want to make clear that I have been blessed to meet so many people who were willing to look past superficial values and treat me as a fellow human. I am sure there are many like that out there. This does not refer to you. Thank you, for reminding me that I was more valuable than perceived. Thank you for letting me be a part of your life.