Form: Ballad
In the darkness I found the strength
To embrace self and take the flight
Towards the future days of life
Where my own decisions feel right
A voyage of discovery
That is the only journey home
The place where all I do is breathe
And love the extra chromosome
To be a man is not weakness
But strength in the eye of that storm
That echoes with ‘if you loved me
You’d listen to me and conform’
If they loved me, they’d want to live
Without the depression or pain
Without the anguish of self-hate
With nought to lose and all to gain
To be a man is not a right
Of birth; more a matter of fate
Courage is not always to fight
To set the world right or straight
To me a man is what I am
Nothing the more; nothing the less
A man who holds the gift of love
I am a lover not built for war
©JG Farmer 2019
A Garret Poet 