Tears

Fear of you wakes me up more often than I like to admit.

Smugly, it whispers—
safe in the home you provided—

reminding me, always,
of my wrongness.

Guilt—
forged by Blood,
baptized in Tradition,
bestowed with Desperation—
that insidious chain shackling my dreams with pointless dread...

This is the second time in a week that it’s pulled me out of my bed.

To say nothing of the lifetime spent
bound to inanity and discontent.

But through the oceans of tears that I’ve shed,
I finally see the truth standing in your stead:

You cannot take away my Voice—
singing of Love,
speaking to Choice—

I am Myself
in all my glory,

and you are part of my story.