This Blood

I have been mortally wounded.

The blood pours out from me in a flood unending 

From that day when I was eleven 

It signifies weakness

It signifies insufficiency 

It signifies hopelessness 

I have been told and told again 

This blood will stain my soul and mark me forever 

From that day when I was twenty one 

It signified opposition 

It signified failure 

It signified oblivion  

I embrace it now

The blood that indicates nothing about my person

(Having no control which I have not given it)

From that day when I decided not to care 

About age or eyes or other people’s thoughts 

It signified ignorance

It signifies Compassion 

It signified hatred 

It signifies Understanding 

It signified fear

It signifies courage

It signified ‘Other’

It signifies Me

It signifies You 

This Blood 

It signifies Human