Am I Just a Shadow of Time Gone By

Can you see me? Do you know who I am? My story is not yet done, but the parade is over. The flags are taken down. The love that once was there is gone. Why so fleeting? Where did it go?

I am not gone. I am still here. I still love and I want to be loved in return. Where did the love go? Can I go there? I cannot be packed away like a folded flag. I am not just a symbol or a token for a short period of time.

I am here, I am now and I am real. I am not just one month, one parade, or one symbol. I am alive, feeling, and wanting to be real forever and a day. Is it too much to ask? Why can you not see me when the parade is gone? Why do you look the other way? Are you afraid? You should not be. I am here, I am real and I am love. Don't shy away. I won't hurt you. I will embrace you because we are all real, alive, human, and worthy of love. The parade has ended but life has not.