© by Eileen Carole
I was really impressed with the White House decision to light up the exterior in rainbow colors when the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is legal. Oddly enough, 20 years to the day, after this highly publicized incident; I found this poem in an old, mostly empty-paged notebook. I wrote it 20 years ago for Matthew Shepard.
Written as if it were Matthew speaking…
Gay is not my reason for living
It was my life. It was who I am.
Gay, however…is my reason for dying
Outnumbered
I was no match for the hate
That would not let me
Just be…me
Beaten while tied to a wooden, prairie fence
I was unprepared for the fury
That could not tolerate me…or my kind
Striking out…they neither understood my life
Nor cared to!
***