I am.... I was..... And I will forever be

I am........

I am not.......

It makes no difference what mind I pretend to be

In front of friends, in front of family, infront of the whole world

we build towers, we build walls, roads, and homes

Temples! that will crumble, and crush and cry

under the weather, the rocks.....and the moments

that defy the logic that make our temples strong

The attacks on our sacred place

Where our mind is free to roam

seemed almost religious

As if the whole world knew what went on behind our closed doors

and closed they were!

To our mothers who cried, and pried at the handles

desperate to understand the secret that lingered on our lips every sermon

To our fathers who fought the great battle 

of teaching us values that came with a price

Yes our temples were big and small, short and very tall

and we kept building, and destroying , and building again

because we valued our perseverance, all the way 

up! to the very top of our souls

I am....

I am not....

My body was my temple

the stones that broke my bones where your words

my sacred place humbled

My stained glass shattered and gray with age

by your judgemental stares and remarks

and every one of us knows

exactly what the other feels  and feels not

I am.....

I am not.......

What words once meant to me

lost to the wind and scattered like ash

and felled upon the ears of the deaf and the joyless.

but no matter for I rebuilt my temple

and the sun shone through the tattered stained glass

that where my eyes after every remark was made

I am....

I am not.......

I am a human being

I am not your image of perfection