On The Same Journey, Discover My Good Humanity... Poem by RIC BASTASA

i have not used words
to conceal my thoughts,

outside this little world
of mine,
i wear those thick clothes
cover my face, wear the
dark sunglasses,
my actions hide me
to protect me from harm

but in this secret hideout
i am using words to
slowly reveal to you
who i am, and where i am
going
what my aspirations are

many have not understood me
their inability to go deeper
beyond appearances, clothes, ties,
underwear, nameplates,
pins, buttons, shoes,
shirts, balls,
and
expressions, gestures &
endearments

these hands and
fingers that sometimes
send the wrong signals,
a body that you can detest
as something that possesses
cruel feet
and crazy nails,
thick skins, and freckled
faces

this i must tell you,
i am not a bad person
i am as good as the other
that you know
my words will speak for me
on this
whiter portion of my
existence
with you, my reader
my listener

i regret all your conclusions
you have settled for the surface
shallow, irrelevant, cowardly.

i wish we can be in the same boat
to this journey,
spend time together, lots of time,
lots of interchanges of words,
perhaps you will begin
to see the good in me,
inside my heart i am as human as
you, one that after all,
needs too to be confirmed
about his goodness,
his inability to do evil
because of the sameness of
our journey
same pains, bearable sufferings,
occasional disappointments,
patent patience

we both do not wish to go
to hell
you say it well.