Voices

• Teresa Li, Grade 10
• Poetry
• 2016

Every day I look at her and hope that the beating of my heart won’t shout.
Hoping that one day this feeling will fall out.
But I know it won’t, it never does.
So I voice it to her but she spreads the buzz
Names here, calls there, voices all around me,
Passing them, they all look so carefree.
“Homosexual freak!” they call,
Forever imprinting labels leading to my fall.
This doesn’t hurt. It takes the pain away.
Yes, this isn’t harming, it helps me stay.
Voices intertwine, getting louder and mixed
I can’t handle it. It’s too much, please you can’t fix this.
I can’t change and be a clone or a drone.
So one day I make the voices die, with my own.