What if I told you (Poem)

Growing up queer, your life is filled with questions and doubts. You live in a closet, afraid of your so-called oddities, scared that you are alone and have no one to go to. This poem is a dedication to all those who are questioning their sexuality and identity, to those who are afraid to accept their truth, asking them to remain hopeful and embrace their beautiful self.

What if I told you

That Robert Frost was wrong,

That you do not need to choose

Out of the two paths of the old order,

You can wander away-

A dawdling fawn

Seeking friends who also roam

Out of the binary of this world?

What if I told you

That there exists a world

Where your love is not kneaded like dough,

Beaten into the supposed perfection

Of what makes the tastiest meal

For this world to feast on?

What if I told you

That there are people

Just as lost as you feel,

Who found themselves as you will,

Who will paint your cheeks your favorite rainbow

But never the red of your blood (as others seek)?

What if I told you

That you don’t have to choose-

You can cry and you can try

Till that one touch feels right?

What if I told you

That you can make your own family-

Arm in arm, lips on lips,

The warmth of hugs against the cold banners of hate?

What if I told you

That happiness exists

And you shall find it-

No matter how bitter today tastes?

I wish someone had told me before

That whoever I end up being,

I am still worthy of love

And forever will I be;

I wish someone had told me before

That the fire on my skin

When her curl touches her cheek

Is not a sin

I wish someone had told me before

That the aunties at the sangeet who whispered

At me and her

Knew nothing of the storm in my head

I wish someone had told me before

That questions are important

But the only acceptable answers

Are those which you unearth yourself.

Written by: Yashica

Edited by: Yelil Perumal, Anusha

Photograph by We Heart It