Real

I’m not a symbol

I’m not a statistic

I’m not the inches in somebody’s column.

I’m not admirable, but

I’m not pitiable either.

I’m simply human.

If you turned me inside out,

you’d find fury, fear, refret and sorrow

struggling with the love and the longing,

hope and wonder,

and all my neediness.

Please don’t take these things seriously.

Don’t poetize or glamorize or trivialize or sermonize.

They are the marks of my life,

gift and loss,

wound and offence.

Please respect them.

I am at odds with all that requires me to be a symbol.

I insist on being real.

 Kathy Galloway