Open My Eyes

I want to live in a world where
People are empathetic
Where feelings are puddles to be
Stepped in and splashed around
Tear-stained boots interchange hands
And we can all get each other a little better.

I want to live in a world where
Men don’t rape women and
Where we are not constantly at war
With our bodies
With our sex
Your sex
Our exes and neighbors
And with the present, and later
When it all falls apart –
When some young man goes too far
I want to live in a world where
His peers hold him accountable
And still look at him with love
Because
That’s all he wanted in the first place.

I want to live in a world where
Girls grow up hearing Madame President
And boys can be told
You’re beautiful
Where we step in and out of the puddles of our lives
Joyous tears as our brothers get married
Tears of grief as our sisters pass
Where when things come to pass
And change blows through, we hold onto each other
With delicate fingertips
We let go when it’s time, still connected in mind
But we move with the music as it changes

I wan to live in a world where
We see
We really see each other
Not a proposition, imposition, or a way to just keep talking
But as collections of memories to be learned
As eyes to be stared into
As questions – without answers
I want to be seen in this world
As a reflection of the world around me
As your soulmate, solely because we share this one moment
As your greatest teacher, because I am before you
As the culmination of every moment before me

I want for us to see each other
In such radiant light that we can’t help
but to go blind to race, religion, and ability
To the things we’ve been handed without our consent

I want this world – I can feel it,
It teases the tips of my fingers,
It lingers just here beyond this moment
So close, and the only way I can reach it
Is
Right now.

I want to live in this world
Where love is free and
Compassion, a given
and received
Where men are forgiven
And women are seen
Where race is celebrated, like the colors of the earth
And where tears flow free, the oceans
I want to live in this world –
And all I have to do
All I have to do
Is open my eyes.

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