Garden of Pride

Rowan (He/They)

L for the Love I feel from my community
B for the fact that I can Be myself
G for the Gift of being able to love
T for the Trials we have overcome
Q for the Qualms we no longer have to face

I have pride in my pride,
A vital piece of who I am,
Something I am not afraid to show off.
I share my truth,
Wave my flag,
And teach those who listen --
What a gift to be able to love who I wish,
To be the person I know I’ve always wanted to be,
To find connection in a community,
To plant seeds in a garden of love,
Roots taking place, flowers blooming,

But what happens when someone doesn’t like my flowers?
They see my petals as weeds,
Ready to tear out my roots
They say I am poisonous;
They say I cause allergies;
They say I am dangerous;
They try to tear us all from the ground:
Petunias, poppies, and peonies
All singing a symphony
Rooted in pain
A want to be seen
A need to be heard

Our country used to be a beautiful garden
Flowers of all types and colors 
Coexisting in harmony.
Since when was one flower better than another?
Since when did we lose our colors?
The weedwackers are hacking us down,
Our flowers are being erased from gardening books,
And some flowers are never able to fully bloom.

The garden is run by a single red rose,
Thorns laced with venom,
Infecting other flowers with poison promises,
Spreading the weeds they accused us of being
Until the whole garden is overrun --
No room for our pretty colors,
For why have a garden
When you can have a single rose bush instead?
So we make ourselves into bouquets,
For we’re better together anyways.
We make our own garden,
And we’ll continue to bloom.

It feels like we’re frozen in time;
One step forward, three steps back.
In times of progression, we’re regressing
Due to a hate that is possessing,
One that no one is addressing,
And what I find so depressing
Is that I spend my time stressing
About whether I have to choose to be me
Or choose to live.

They call me violent, yet I am the victim of the crime,
An assault to my identity.
They call me a predator, yet I am the prey,
Caught up in the hunt of our democracy.
They say I am a threat, yet they threaten me, 
Ready to erase me from existence.
They say I deserve to die,
But I have barely begun to live.

L for the Lives of my brothers and sisters, lost for loving who they love
B for the constant Battle we must face every day
G for the Gun they hold to our heads, the choice between being me or dead 
T for the Time we’ve lost, now back to days before we were safe to exist
Q for the Quiet we must be, now afraid to show who we are

I have pride in my pride,
But now that pride comes with a price,
One that no one should ever have to pay.