There was a place I once would hide

Because I was too scared to confide

In the people that I knew

 

But deep down in my chest

I knew I’d soon need to confess

Or I’d never love anew

 

I sat in that closet

As a voice I bounced around my head

Echoing through my skull

As dull light came in through the cracks 

And dread sunk into my chest

 

I looked around the darkness for a question nobody should ever need to ask:

 

“Is loving who I want to love bad?”

 

And I listened through the cracks in the door

And slowly I felt more and more doubt about 

Who I really was.

 

I heard the things people would say about 

someone who came out as gay 

and I decided to hide away a little longer.

 

I heard protests against love, wishes of death amongst

Claims that a God above would shun someone 

because they do not love the same

 

As time went on, I matured and grew

I heard people with a new view

Embracing differences with open arms 

 

And the light began to shine through

 

I found the lock. 

I took a deep breath. 

And I opened the door.

 

I looked back at the space that 

I let confine me for so many years 

as happy tears threatened to fall 

 

And with that, I closed the door. 

 

And didn’t look back. At all.