Looking Back

Looking back across the years
I see that I have changed
I used to write poems all the time
Now I barely write my name
So I sat down to write this
To see if the talent was still there
And it would seem that through the cobwebs
There’s still a poem hanging in the air.

I came to California
To make a new life for myself
Escaping all the emotional abuse
That had become a living hell
By the time that I reached 40
I had come to believe
That I would live a life alone
And then she came to me.

Never could I have guessed
That I could really be set free
Free from society’s oppression
Which I had allowed to smother me
But she stood tall beside me
And told me that I was OK
That’s a gift that I will gladly repay
Until my dying day

She opened up a world for me
In which I found I could belong
There was no more guilt, no more shame
No more thinking I must be wrong
And as I hold up my head with pride
I feel a great aching grief
For all the teenage suicides
For all the disbelief.

The world has many miles to go
And I may not see the end
But as I walk the rainbow path
On this you can depend
I will be shouting loudly
For justice for all mankind
I will stand up for those who suffer
Who feel caught up in that bind

Who struggle with their identity
A pain only we can know
In a world that still rejects us
In a world where change is slow.

So if you are not ready yet
To take that first step out
Know that we are many
Know that you need not doubt
For I pledge to stand beside you
When all others turn away
For looking back
That was done for me
And it saved my life that day.