Equal

We are retold so very often
By folks our parents’ age
How we are all the same
Restless, wired up mistakes.

It is not as they say,
You are not me or the other way
Never has a generation come along
So wanting to be different

We aren’t turning out to be alike, I realize.
In appearance or otherwise
But every time I cry
From the misery which bias tags along
I wish we do.

Don’t get me wrong, I like being special too.
But I don’t want to be separate.
I’d rather be alike.

Alike.
No glass ceilings holding me back
No eve teasing scaring me
No history to prove wrong
No closed doors to step out from

Alike.
When you can’t make out whether I am a woman or a man
Would love at first sight still count?
When you cannot make out whether I am black or white,
Would you really be thinking of ways to hurt?

Alike.
I wouldn't mind that quite
To not love based on race, status, façade, gender.
I want to fall in love without love laws
I want to fall in love with what you have or have lost.

Alike.
When I am done falling in love with your story
Then maybe you can tell me your gender
So that I can figure out whether I am straight or gay.
Instead of having to start out the other way.

Alike.
Viewing the world as a blind person does.
Without any presumptions to make on sight.
Maybe, make a little with smell and noise.
But mostly on chatter and poise.

Alike.
When I hold your hand in mine,
And when I raise that hand to make a line
Or drop a blow, I recall that we are fellows
Identical but with different truths.

Alike.
Maybe someday I will more than brown
And my mind will be more than my body
Maybe someday everyone will finally see me
And I will know what the word equal means.