Identity
noun, plural identities.
1. the state or fact of remaining the same one or ones, as under varying aspects or conditions:
The identity of the fingerprints on the gun with those on file provided evidence that he was the killer.
2. the condition of being oneself or itself, and not another:
He began to doubt his own identity.
3. condition or character as to who a person or what a thing is; the qualities, beliefs, etc., that distinguish or identify a person or thing:
a case of mistaken identity; a male gender identity; immigrants with strong ethnic identities.
4. the state or fact of being the same one as described.
5. the sense of self, providing sameness and continuity in personality over time and sometimes disturbed in mental illnesses, as schizophrenia.
6. exact likeness in nature or qualities:
an identity of interests.
7. an instance or point of sameness or likeness:
to mistake resemblances for identities.
November 15, 2016
Will mark
My 11th anniversary
Of my acceptance
For whom
I am.
Having spent
Over 28 years
In hiding.
Filled with shame
Fear and self-loathing
Since August 1977.
(As my family live
In a small rural
Ontario village
At the time.)
A vain attempt
To protect myself
From the other kids
Who sought
To attack me.
Both verbally
And physically.
Turning
Their negative energy
Inwards
In a corrosive manner.
Where
Life has no meaning
Beyond death
And release.
Until
One day
In early 2005
I stopped suppressing
Myself.
Letting out
This timid child
Into the light.
Offering her
A chance to grow
And heal.
In realizing
After a few months
Of cross dressing
This wasn't me.
I need more
In my life.
To fill
This huge hole
In my soul.
Standing over
My dad's grave
On November 15, 2005.
I found myself
Able to release
This 10 tonne elephant
From my shoulders.
As tears of relief
Streaked my face
In the late morning mist
On an unusually mild
Mid-November day.
As I shared
With my dad's ashes
My true self.
By taking
The first steps
In my journey
Of real healing
As a woman.
With small steps
Towards the ending
Of my abusive
And destructive past.
In the rebirth
Of myself
As Therisa.
Regardless
What others think
Whom I am.
I'm
A
Woman.
Therisa © 2016
Author's note: The hardest journey, one will ever undertake, is to look deeply, into ones soul and make the necessary changes, for true healing to occur. Even if, this means, you must go against the flow that Society views, as normal. Knowing, you'll face fierce opposition, based upon, fear fuelled ignorance around anything that's different.
