If we threw off each person's veil,
Revealed the darkness that exists in each,
Many would be taken aback,
A keen understanding we would reach.

There is bad in each person,
Some conceal it better than others;
They fret that their sin is showing,
To their sisters and brothers.

There is also good present
In all of earth's people;
Even the ones that we deem
To be irrefutably evil.

No human is perfect,
For we are a very imperfect species;
We thrive on the emotion that builds and breaks us,
The things that teach or break us to pieces.

I am not calling you to remove your veil,
Nor do you have to tell your sins;
I am simply saying examine yourself,
Your outs and your ins.

Know yourself better than you know
This complicated world;
Only then will you find peace
During life into which you were hurled.

Recently, a turn of events has conquered my conscious. My transgender boyfriend came out to his parents as trans, and their reaction has been very volatile. They want him to break up with me, because they think he's changing himself to suit me. Yes, I'm a homosexual, and yes, I fell in love with a biological female. But I have done nothing but encourage him to be happy, and to love and support him through any and all changes necessary for him to procure happiness. They're taking him to therapy, and they're trying to divide him from me. But all they're managing to do is divide themselves from their child, for they're trying to remove me from their son's life; he doesn't want me gone. I've been there for him these many months. It's been my shoulder his head has cried on. It's been me that he seeks out when he's in despair, needing empathy. You are breaking him. He is hurting. The number of transgender youth that commit suicide each year is so high. Do you want him to be a statistic?

I have lost my respect for his parents. They want him to be a girl, but alas, he is not.

I'm weeping.

When solitude finds me in life,
I find my own inner peace.
Having experienced strife
Is better than for life to cease.

We are a lucky species, to be so aware,
To not only see colors but to bestow them names.
To write poems about their flare,
To capture ice, to capture flames.

So when I am morose,
And diamonds drop from my eyes.
Time passes, the wind blows,
And I remember what it means to be alive.

We are taught to conceal aspects of ourselves,
When they do not fit society's perception of normal.
Even the negative aspects that ought to be dealt with,
We conceal in a steadfast way, making them more formal.

Denying something makes it stronger,
Even when it is an awful thing.
That is why acceptance and appropriate action is warranted,
Rather than these same songs of denial we sing.

Mental programming, it is killing us all.
Mental programming, it is how we fall.
Mental programming, what an insistent call.
Mental programming - we must stand tall.

When I fell into your cave,
Your stalagmites pierced me;
I became impossible to save,
The rock much too deep.

The sun did not shine there,
People did not see me hurt.
They did not see the blood,
How the rock made it spurt.

Some tried to pull me out,
But they all failed upon trying.
My strangled cry became a death shout,
For I was slowly dying.

My body, pulled from the deep cave,
Remained lifeless in your arms;
I had never been saved,
And I met the face of harm.

I was too far gone,
I could not return;
I did not see dawn,
Death I had earned.

The pills do not work like promised,
For the thoughts still remain.
They have accomplished little,
Other than to drive me insane.

I feel myself becoming emotionless,
The medication smothers my ability to feel.
It helps me to endure this situation,
But it allows no room to heal.

But these blue pills, at least they are something,
Something to ease my suffering.
These many bad nights have left me terrified,
For I am prone to shuddering.

Having hindered emotions
Is better than feeling anxious or depressed.
So I will take this treatment even if
Happiness also suffers in the pursuit of rest.

I change each year just a little,
Shedding the skin I grew to know.
That's part of growing up,
You reap what you sow.

I have freedom now,
But I miss the structure of the past.
Does that make me weak,
To want something to last?

Things look different to me, now,
The world shifting around me.
I recognize none of this,
And yet memories only make me bleed.

Is it wrong to miss the chaos?
Is it wrong to want to go back?
I grew up in fear,
I was always under attack,

I'm not sure how to exist without the chaos.
I don't know how to make it through.
I used to have dreams, plans,
But deep down I knew.

This was my fate all along.
To forget myself at last.
Everything has fallen apart;
Turned to shattered glass.

Hands brush against each other,
But dare not intertwine.
Their owners fear persecution,
So instead they choose to hide.

Eyes sparkle under sunlight,
Wide smiles sprawl across faces,
Lips quiver in loving desire,
But kissing is dangerous in these places.

A man bestows his husband with a present,
As they sit within a restaurant booth,
But all he can do is smile,
So onlookers won't know his heart's truth.

Under party lights, their arms intertwine,
Their eyes meet, their lips kiss.
They are surrounded by others,
Who only now can engage in this bliss.

They are free from judgement,
Free from danger, hearts soaring,
Lives molding together, passion flowing,
Love crying into the air, it is roaring.

Gunfire erupts, bodies are falling,
Safe places have become unsafe.
It seems we can not love freely,
No, not even in this place.

Protect these children,
Who have grown up without care,
Knowing technological screens better than
Loving stares.

These children who develop
Perverse minds before even hitting puberty;
That type of parenting is a disastrous,
Sick sort of cruelty.

Raise your children to know human touch,
And radiating love that comes from within;
Don't accustom them to finding enjoyment
In the virtual worlds they play in.

Children are still developing and
It is your duty as parents to protect their innocence;
To safeguard their beautiful minds that are barren of
The world's filth; falter not in this for even an instant.

To fail this is to admit that you have
Poisoned beauty in one of its finest forms;
I do not care what social rules you have to break,
Never break or conform.

If you succeed, your kids' light won't go out,
Even when they age and the world gets darker,
They will remember the values taught
By those who would not give into slaughter.

Do not slaughter innocence, for it seldom peeks
Through the rampant corruption of this world;
And I fear sometimes that it will be quenched
Or become undetectable like water vapor tightly furled.

Everything turns to dust someday.
We learn to hang from a thread.
Everything will fall apart someday.
We stifle tears when we lie in bed.

If you believe in the Christian God,
Then he made us from dust.
Science declares the same thing,
That we were made from dust.

From dust we came,
And dust again we will be.
That is the truth,
One day you will see.

There will be little left,
Of you or me.
Our bodies will come to rest,
Our souls finally free.

The moon's glow holds nothing special tonight,
As someone so brilliant glimmers before my eyes.
It is captivating the way green eyes sparkle in moonlight,
The way rosy lips lightly release quiet sighs.

I am transported to other places, when there I gaze,
And you remain at my side wherever I roam.
You peel away the pain that has lingered like a haze,
Deciding that you will never leave me alone.

And on quiet nights, when there are no sounds in the air,
My mind wanders to the holder of my love.
Ponders green eyes that mesmerize as they stare,
Invalidating the glowing moon above.

I close my eyes on those quiet nights, and you appear,
Existing beside me to calm my shaking form.
Your embrace vanquishing my fear,
Calming this tumultuous storm.

When I was a boy,
My heart resembled a rose,
Which could not see chaos,
My innocence did show.

When I became a young man,
The rose, it grew thorns,
Dark, hardened bits formed
When I was made to mourn.

It seemed life handed death to me,
Like it was running out of time,
Running out of time to break me,
That conclusion I did find.

But those deaths have not affected me
Like the living tragedies have,
And the living tragedies drive me closer,
To thoughts I once never had.

Here I am, reaching the end of adolescence,
A time that is meant to form us as people.
Here I am, feeling that I deserve more grief,
That I have always been inherently evil.

The horizon offers much for me,
But I fear it will not come easily.
Then again, it could not be worse
Than what life has dealt me habitually.

So, onward I will march,
As I have done for quite a while.
Though the bullets strike me often,
I will somehow endure this trial.

Blood stains—it taunts as well—
Sings Our Tale—of long farewell—
Inspires art—brings Us to hell—
Blade in hand—We understand—Death's plan—

Dark scythe sweeps across head—
Takes me Under the Ground—
Words unsaid—live forever—Deafening Sound—
Sweeps across this barren town—

There are many things to desire,
In this world of frost and fire.
I know not where to look,
Who is friend, who is liar.

Many paths exist, calling my name,
Some born in modesty, some in fame.
Despite this, I ignore them all,
Buried deep within my shame.

Love is such an incredible thing. We all have this idea of what love is fed to us throughout our lives; when we are birthed into this world, we experience love, see love, are taught about love. But it's hardly captured properly, I think, in books and films and other things.

    See, loving another person is almost an undescribable thing. I know that I would do anything and everything, change anything and everything, be anything and everything for for the person I love. When I first started dating my boyfriend, he called himself by a different name. A society-deemed "feminine" name.

    His whole life, everyone referred to him as a girl. Told him he was a girl. They made him behave accordingly, and told him it was wrong to act the way he wanted. They mocked him for displaying any sort of behavior that was deemed "unladylike". He learned to not trust them because they refused to be what they needed to be: supportive.

    I started hanging out with him when he still identified as a girl. At the time, he still presented as a female, but despite me being gay, I became instantly captivated by him.

    We had been friends on the internet for a long time leading up to actually spending time together. We had a foundation, we had stories to tell and memories to share. I remember there being a spark; it didn't happen when I first saw him, for I did not fall in love with his appearance. The spark happened when I began interacting with him and realized that he made my heart happy in ways that NO ONE had EVER been able to achieve.

    We started dating. At the time, I was out as "bisexual". I use quotations only because I'm actually gay, not because bisexuals don't exist. My family accepted him, but believed him to be a girl. Hell, I believed him to be a girl. A masculine one, but still a female. But then he went through this period where he identified as gender fluid, and then, eventually, came out to me as being fully Transgender.

    I'm an accepting guy. My heart, as well as my mind, is open to so many things. It didn't matter to me that his body would be changing, for I hadn't fallen in love with the body in the first place. I am gay; I seeked him out not for his body, but for the person behind the mask, who loved me unconditionally and aided me through all of my life's struggles, of which there are many. I accepted him, calling him by his pronouns, his new name, and doing my best to make him comfortable.

    I experienced fear, but only because his body and voice - which I'd grown so accustomed to - would be changing once he began transition. I was worried that he would become unfamilliar; but one thing doesn't change: a person's heart.

    Ultimately, I learned that it's my duty to be there for him always; I learned that my love needs to be steadfast and that it can't waver. He needs me just as much as I need him; we serve as life-lines for each other, and can only thrive with each other.

    Love, to me, is blind to gender. Although I'm gay, and am only attracted to the male body, I fell in love with a biological female. I knew that I could spend my life with him like that, a woman, because I cared infinitely about him. Now, I know he is a man, and nothing has changed.

    I will encourage him and support him until my light stops. And even then I hope he clutches onto me, hears my voice in his ear when he's burdened, and knows that I loved him unquenchably and irrevocably.

    That's love.

What words should I have?
What can I possibly say?
What will ease your concerns,
Better your agonizing day?

The truth is, as long as pain continues,
And your muscles never mend,
You will never be at ease,
There will be no words I can lend.

You make the pain, my mother,
As long as you accept drink as lover,
The pain is not going to cease,
You will never recover.

These are the words I have found,
There you are, my sweet mother,
Now it is your decision, make the choice,
Are you done or will you have another?

Determination strikes so occasionally for me,
As if prospering only in the strictest of conditions,
But when it does sprout up from nowhere,
My head is filled with so many visions.

I see a course ahead of me traveled by many,
But conquered by very few,
And my probability to succeed is not greater,
That seems to be true.

But I feel like no road worth paving
Will manage to pave itself.
A book does not find its own way
Onto the tall, looming bookshelf.

The pavement must be my doing,
For the result to be worthwhile;
I have not always accepted this,
But then I was in denial.

If you are complacent,
And expect your road to unfold,
You will grow very frustrated as nothing happens,
And you will only become old.

The stars beam down at us,
Smiling as we cruise,
Flickering within the city sky.
We have nothing to lose.

Burdens have been left behind,
Where people have discarded reality.
We have escaped the broken woman,
Managed once more to evade fatality.

Our drive cannot last forever,
But I wish that it could.
If I were able to become lost in the night,
Then I surely and happily would.

You are done breaking my heart.
Whether or not you realize this,
It does not matter.
I am not yours to tatter.

You will not hurt me any more.
You have proven your weakness,
And shown that you couldn't care less.
Whatever, I'll find peace in this mess.