Empathy
By Josh LaMar
For Cameron 


When in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state, 
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
- Shakespeare Sonnet 29



Do not make mistakes I have made.  
Do not tread the path of self-hatred;
Do not dwell on the cry:
Why me?   
Why me?  
Dear God!  			Why me?

I do not have the answers
nor know their color:
black or right, white or wrong, 
only the Seattle-gray skyline of
possibilities:
what if . . . maybe . . . if only . . . 

Do not harbor the hope:
I can change
I can change
I can change.  

I cannot change.  
I grow, but stay 
in the same place,
steadfast as steel.  

All I can say is this:
You are not alone.
I feel the knots in your stomach,
know the sleepless nights of empty tears, 
beweep our outcast state,
with you.

There is a God whose love
surpasses understanding.