Identity Crisis - Draw Your Line! Poem by Jacson Gelato

I hate to be called a hedgehog
or a rat or a snake;
I am not identified by the life
I have within me;
the past generations
have named me by my origin,
so they call a rat a rat
and a hedgehog a hedgehog.

But what should I call a man
who can think, who can reason
yet write unworthy lines
and speak of hatred, criticism
besides dictatorial orders?

I am not a lamp in which one can
add a little fuel and extend its glow;
I am just a mind pleasant to the core
and to the principles of life
is my veneration and dedication.

I would not look at the stars
and call them flowers;
I would not look at the ocean
and call it the river;
I would not even like to look at others
and call them good or bad.

I would accept that what is wrong
has to be rectified;
yet a species is known by its identity
and what it can yield.
What is your identity?
Is it not by what you must speak and write
or is it not by the class of gentleness
you must exhibit and uphold?