A Former Bigot. I'm So Sorry.

The slurs I hauled
Into my mouth like a sailor's net,
Heavy with hate,
Leeches of ignorance
Clinging to my tongue.

How easy it was,
To fear what I could not comprehend,
To label love as unnatural,
To close my ears
To the song of progress.

Like waves eroding the shore
My beliefs crumbled,
Their jagged edges
Mellowed by the tide
Of knowledge finally seeping in.

I was a silhouette, a whisper,
A vessel of intolerance carrying
The weight
Of countless lost chances,
An ocean of jagged tears unshed.

But as the birds skimmed the horizon,
Fipping their wings in a palette of freedom,
I realized the regret
Of my former self,
A pebble tossed blindly into the abyss.

Now, aching with the weight of my past,
I bask in the gentle wash of acceptance,
Knowing that love is a radiant chorus,
And it doesn't need my permission
To sing.