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Does It Shame You?
July 3, 2013
Are you ashamed?
Does it shame you
To be with me—
For them too see
Us sporting true
Love—love renamed—
Love, unlike their
Own, with a name
Unlike the rest?
I unaware
Bury pain—shame
Deep in you chest
And yet you keep
It from me; all
I want is to
Understand you—
Trust me, I shall;
I know the deep
Ache of hiding
Of one’s self from
This judging world.
No more chiding—
Love me, love dumb
Old me, unfurled.
© Asia A., Cottonwood, AZ
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JOIN THE DISCUSSION
This article has 6 comments.
mynameisnothabib GOLD said...
on Nov. 5 2013 at 10:01 am
To me, this poem is talking about something i am currently going through. Im in a "thing" with a guy. It can't neccessarily be called a "relationship" but its a "thing." So, I feel like i can relate. He doesnt talk to me like he likes me unless its just us alone, and around his friends, im just another face in the crowd, just another friend... so, if im correct, i see where you are coming from with this poem. ~and i think you chose the picture because the guy is hot. Js.
The fact—if I can call it so—that this made your day and that is was like Christmas to you makes my whole d*mn year. Thank you so much for expressing your feelings for this poem. I'm touched that you relate with it. Yeah, it's tough struggling trying to discover who you are and what you want. Sometimes the world tells you, you have to do this, like this, hate that, live this way and not that way. But...it doesn't always work that way for everyone. Nor should it. We should all live our lives the way we think is best for us. (That sounds hypocritical coming from me, for so many reasons.) But ultimately, everyone should choose what the want and don't want. And worse of all is the inability to not express those thoughts and longings. I've been fortunate with Teenink. I've kind of come out of that iron shell. Not completely. But it's a lot more liberating than it was years ago. Those last lines, at first, I felt that I had failed miserably with them. I felt like I still wasn't able to express what I wanted completely. Now, I realize that it was a step. A baby one, albeit. But still a step. Many people don't get that opportunity. (By the way, this is kind of a series of poems. If you're interested The World's Not Ready Yet is another one.) Gah, I feel like I'm becoming emotional. Thank you, friend. Feels good to discard some of that shell I can't liberate myself from with others.
Finding this poem is like Christmas. An absolute gem, McKay, I don't know how I haven't seen this before. I loved "I know the deep Ache of hiding Of one’s self from This judging world. No more chiding— Love me, love dumb Old me, unfurled." That just breaks my heart. In a good way. Because I completely relate to it... *emotional revelations on your comment feed time*...in that I have been having some serious struggles with my sexual orientation this past year, and it's hard. You know? Of course you know, hence this poem, it's hard to hide, when all you want is to be understood, known, really known. To be unfurled. Ah, gah, this is beautiful. Made my whole damned day.
