Live and Let Live

“I reject your projection
Of opinion, degradation
Difference unaccepted
Your voice is silenced.”

Is it enough to say it doesn’t bother me
That you are different, that you like guys
To say you’re like me, human like me
But just different like you

I said that love is universal
That my love isn’t different from yours
Reasons why aren’t different from yours
Just who you love, the person is different

Do I deny your individuality
When I say we’re not that different,
Your girlfriend boyfriend is like my girlfriend, right?

Do I truly not know what it’s like to be you?
I don’t want you to feel like some sort of science project
We are human, you are human. Emotion is universal
Even if desires are not

When I took the time that day
To stop you, and listen to your story
Attempt to understand, but really just listen
Did I think I was better than all the people who haven’t stopped to listen?
Maybe, but I didn’t think that was the point

Do I truly define myself in direct opposition to you?
Would I be appalled to be called like you?
Why does it matter that people know I’m not like you?

Is it because I don’t want to see what you do?
Am I just making excuses
Claiming that I don’t care what anyone does in their bedrooms
As long as I don’t have to see or hear about it.

Am I really an advocate
If I won’t publically challenge what other people say?
Am I really your friend, just because I won’t call you names?
Is “Live and let live” enough?

How many more like me there are
Who wanted to believe we are better than that…
Stunned, ashamed, to see the system’s claws in us
Disguised as its opposite, lives on
The parasite spreads like a virus…
When all along we thought we had the cure