They tortured you
For what?
For who you are
For who you were not afraid to be
An openly gay man
So comfortable with himself...
It didn't matter if no one else was
They beat you
They killed you
For what?
For wanting to be yourself...
There was so much more to him
He was a boy
He was a brother
A son
A student
A friend
And so much more
But two souls...filled with hate
Had to show you what their hate felt like
How it surged through their veins and had absolutely no control over what they did to you
You should not have had to feel their hate
It was their hate...they had no right to share
They had to get rid of you
Because of one miniscule part of yourself
You Matthew...are a legend in my heart
And I only wish that I had the privelege to know you
You suffered for everyone out there like you
Everyone else who had the possibility of feeling that intense wave of hate enter into their lives
I mourn for you
I mourn for your family
I mourn for all of the people around you
Who must go on...without the sunshine that you brought to the world

04/28/2003

Author's Note: After going to the a performance of the Laramie project and doing some research on the case of Matthew Shepard, I felt that this poem was something that had to be written. For those of you that don't know about Matthew Shepard, he was a young college student from Laramie, WY who was severely beaten by two young men and left to die, tied to a fence in a secluded field. Some say he looked like a scarecrow against the Wyoming sky with the only spots on his face not covered in blood being the lines that his tears left on his face...as he cried...

Posted on 04/28/2003
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