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