A WORLD OF NAMES

They call him every day gay, so what’s in a name,

Does he not have a heart and personality?

Screamed out in the street, less than the color black is he,

Is he not a man, what makes any color better than you.

A boy was he, love of the dance but many names of unkind,

Names that would not serve the world in any decent way.

Called names and beaten because he was shy, tell me why,

Because he was shy, the bully is nothing in these eyes.

Too heavy or too thin, judgment from those who are weak,

Hurtful words from blackened hearts, those with not much to say.

I began to learn that life is too short to hate the world away.

Keith Garrett