Those Who Bleed

While I pass as a norm
(infer not-crooked, wink nudge nudge)
I still feel strongly about my place
outside of those who think one way

some would say I have privilege
a boon to live among the rest
while others struggle to exist
I seem to skate while they resist

yet my place asks me to bend
along with with peers of same kind
denying who we fully are
for sake of friends and other folk

I am true to unto myself
It's not a sham, just incomplete
there is more to my brand
than facades seeming bland

my appearance may be non-nonchalant
know there's more behind the front
because I am as real inside
as those who struggle, their lives denied

so my friends, the non-passing
and those like me who seem to fit
I stand with you though I may seem
to be apart from those who bleed.

© 2017. Sean Green. All Rights Reserved. 20170419.

The poem “Those Who Bleed” speaks to the phenomenon of passing appearance and privilege.  While I  may have both, I still have chunks of my life where I am sequestered for fear of exposure.  My heart, and appreciation, goes out to those who live their lives fully by choice or circumstance.