being me

Everywhere I go

            I feel like a stranger,

                        like I just came out of a spaceship.

 

Everywhere I go

            I feel the same looks,

                        I see the same masks,

                                    I hear the same laughs.

 

When I'm in my land

            they see me as a hermit

                        as an outcast.

 

When I'm in another land

            they see me as a foreigner,

                        as someone who should not be there.

 

Everywhere I go

            I'm a radical,

                        a pariah,

                                    someone you should not be seen with.

 

When I speak my mind

            people open their eyes wide,

                        cover their mouth in astonishment,

                                    look at each other with disapproval.

 

I try real hard to not care,

            to keep going,

                        to be invisible

                                    or to silence my thoughts

 

Even the computer insists on correcting what I write,

            suggesting better ways of being me.

 

But I'm tired of conforming,

            I'm tired of trying to fit,

                        I'm tired of being what the rest want me to be.

 

That's why everywhere I go,

            I keep being the same old bastard,

                        the same old communist,

                                    the same old radical,

                                                Because someone must, and it will be me.