We Are Not So Different Poem by Janet K. Rauch

Worlds apart
Or so it seems
You have your life
I have my dreams

Our differences
Are varied and vast
You head the line
I will take last

I know you well
You don’t know me
And life is full
Of fantasy

I speak the truth
You close your ears
As you exist
I live my years

I will reach out
But miss your hand
You draw it back
I understand

I know I’m blessed
You say you are
Your pricey clothes
My thrift bazaar

Forgive my spewing
Old restless tongue
So full of words
I once was young

But who will listen?
Not I, you say
After our eyes meet
You walk away

Don’t dare look back
On the sower of seed
As you walk away
Temporarily freed

Fate will find us
Together again
A brief encounter
Or next of kin

Believe it or not
I trust you to see
It’s not all about you
Nor all about me

I sowed the seed
You nurtured it with thought
We both enjoy its bloom
And the wisdom it taught

Now share with the world
How both friend and foe
Can be intertwined
And learn how to grow

For so many seek
What we may have found
When we opened our hearts
To create common ground

(This was a strange rendering, but it busted out on Christmas Eve,2008. I’m not even sure who it’s about or if it is actually inspired by anyone in particular. Sometimes I just get tired of dealing with people who treat me like I’m unintelligent, or at best – invisible.)