Some Blindness is Contagious | Black Sheep Poetry

"Our paths cross, but our maps don’t align."

Some Blindness is Contagious

If I listened more

I would still be lost.

Our paths cross, but our maps don’t align.

Why should I fall in line?

Why should I take my place

among people who seem more by prisoners and police

than free spirits and whole souls?

I’ve received more instructions than I could ever obey

and all my obedience would never be enough.

I’ve seen the rituals that garner applause

I know who serves a god that's false.

And so I dare to stand on the side of the sideless;

you see the game more clearly from the bench.

What I’m seeking doesn’t fly a flag

or belong to any one more than any other.

What I’m seeking doesn’t come with instructions

or activists to shout them.

When society is ruled by grievance

and strangers demand allegiance

I’m told up was always down

and I shouldn’t trust my own feet on the ground,

I tell myself to remember: 

they can’t see what I’m seeking.