If I could change one thing about myself

Maybe I would go back to being an embryo

And change how I think about men

So that when I got to the seventh grade

I wouldn’t fall in love

With my best friend

And spend long nights crying in my room

Because my parents were ashamed and scared

Maybe I would go back and tell myself

Not to accept happiness over holiness

Because life is going to be horrible

Whichever way you choose

It’s all tough

So maybe it’s better

Not to be ridiculed and chastised

For loving someone

Or I might go back

To when I started high school

And tell myself that it’s okay

To fall in love with someone of the same sex.

Because no matter how hard you try

You can’t outrun yourself

And you can’t outrun their eyes

So you should stand up here

Stand up now

Because you’ve only got a hundred years

And sometimes history

Takes thousands