Charity Janisse

It is not that we choose to be different
We just accept that we are
We walk in your world
But we see another.
We try to pretend that we fit in
Sometimes
It’s something people have to do
To make a living
To survive
To not be completely outcast
Outside, alone
But deep inside
We know
We are not
And can never be
One of what you are
We look at your cities and we see the history
The hands through time that built them
And the lives that walked within them
Years before we ever came to be
We look at your trees and we see their faces
And we feel their emotion
And their knowledge
Their ancient deity
We listen to your music
And we hear the heart and the soul of the poet, the singer
We feel their love
We sense their loss
And we live and dream inside the poetry
We do not think like you
But we feel
We sense
We breathe
Everything
And sometimes it is too hard
To walk among you
To pretend to be one of you
So occasionally
We hide in our rooms
And we listen to those soulful songs
And we lose our selves in the music and poetry
Until your world fades away
Almost completely
And we remember who we are
And we remember that we did not choose to be different
We just accept that we are.

Charity Janisse