Identity Crisis

Once a boy wondered if it was okay

That he wanted to feel like a woman someday;

Once a girl asked if she’d feel more joy

If she looked and acted and spoke like a boy;

One adult wondered, for they had forgotten,

If youth was a blessing or if it were rotten;

And so this went on for more than forever

In the weak and the strong and the dumb and the clever.

Behind every eye is a mind that is yearning

To know if their heart is the only one burning,

To know if their fears are the same as their neighbors

And whether they’ll ever bear fruit from their labors.

They seek refuge from the onslaught of “uncertain,”

Ever straining to peek at what’s behind the curtain,

Answering tests that will never be graded

‘Til the years pass them by and the memories are faded.

And Amy and Andrew and Zelda and Zane

Will all long for comfort and cry from their pain,

And only the wisest know what they must do:

Merely listen intently and say what is true.