Imagine apologizing for all the ways you were never enough.
Knowing you would never be forgiven.
Imagine the torture.
Imagine the curse.

Having a boy love you.
Wondering when he would tell you it was a lie.
Imagine how the sweetness would make you cry.
Imagine never knowing.

What kind of a life is that?

Consider the blood of people trying to touch.
Consider the cruelty of being different.
Consider the confusion.

Consider everything not said.
Paper airplanes that fly through the air for mere seconds.
Consider people’s hopes.

Consider your heart beating inches from mine.
Consider truth. Consider truth.
Consider what could be between two people. Shudder.

Consider the distance.
Consider the barricades, challenges.
Consider the fear.

Imagine mapping a way
through the heart.