The Difference Between You and Me

12.28.95

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury.
I stand before you a simple man,
A man you do not know,
A man you can never know.
Yet you can and will judge me.
How and why,
I may never know.
For my eyes have seen,
What yours have not.
My feet have traveled,
Where yours will not.
My mind knows a freedom,
You may never know.
On your thrown up high,
You sit and watch me.
But no matter how long you watch,
You’ll never see the real me.
You’ll see what you want to see,
The differences between you and me.
Are you afraid?
Of being like me.
Of losing your mask.
Does it scare you that much?
To the point of condemning me.
You say you’ve been trained,
To only see the differences.
Is that a valid excuse?
For is it not your eyes that see,
Your mind that thinks,
And your heart that feels.
I taste your scorn,
And you see my pain.
Yet you do not care.
Perhaps you fear,
The consequences,
That would bring.
No differences,
Between you and me.
You take my silence,
As proof.
My complacency,
As evidence.
That I see,
The differences,
Between you and me.
When our similarities,
and your fear,
Is all I see.
Remember still waters,
Run deep.
So bring your torches.
Burn the witch,
And the dissenter.
Hunt the wolf to extinction,
Try with all your might,
To no avail.
For I will prevail.
Because you see,
While you fight to preserve,
What you are.
Like the animal you think I am,
I fight for survival.
You can take me,
But you will never break me.