I stand at the base of my hill
It’s not a mountain
But it’s mine
My skills
My ability
The things I like to do
Want to do
Am able to do
Yet I am invisible
Unheard
Hidden
Disconnected
Excluded
I climb my hill slowly
The trail snakes to the summit
I stumble
Go back
Try to clear my way forward
The ground shifts beneath my feet
A door slams shut
Another opens a crack
I sneak a look before it too closes
Each time I am crushed
I regroup
Reinvent
Find another way
Build alliances
Bridge misunderstandings
My eyes strain to make out the path
I feel my way gingerly along it
Others hardly flinch
Striding confidently on their journey
But I stumble
Little bumps great hurdles for me
And the noise!
From everywhere
It overwhelms
But not you
You carry on unaware
Extend a hand
Finger tips brush
Tantalizingly close
Then gone
I am alone
In my world of difference
Unique
And then you find yourself in my shoes
Cut off
Isolated
Deafened by the silence
You shout
Scream
Defend your right to be you
Free to act
Move where and when you like
How you like
To do as you please
Just to be the you, you have always been
Does this change how you view me,
Trapped as you now are in a bubble,
Are you more sensitive to my needs?
Or will the awakening fizzle with time
As you stomp up your hill
When things return to normal
And you leave me behind once more?
Does it matter that I do things in my own way?
Behave differently
Look different?
Perhaps difference is the constant
The norm
Not sameness
Just as nature
Adapts
Flourishes from season to season
Without interference
Each part supporting the next
A symbiotic relationship we might mimic in 2021
@sarahclarke888 2021
