I Earned the Rainbow

I am red, I am blood, I am anger, I am pain

I am orange, I am warmth, I am energy, I am vain

I am yellow, I am bright, I am sunshine, I am cheer

I am green, I am growth, I am health, I am fear

I am blue, I am calm, I am sadness, I am stable

I am violet, I am wise, I am proud, I am able

I have been the blushing pink of the scars across my wrist

I have been the dullest gray, hidden in the mist

I have been the brightest white, pure and new and innocent

I have been the darkest black, brooding, weak, and vacant

When all the colors mix, and life becomes too much

I become a swirling brown, too overwhelmed to touch

So when others say to me, "You cannot own the rainbow"

I turn the other cheek, for truly, what could they know?

They don't know the pain, they don't know the struggle

They couldn't know the suffering of the personalities I've juggled

They weren't born into a world, into a body they weren't meant for

They never knew the fear of coming out, of terror to their core

My brothers and my sisters of the rainbow, we deserve it

We don't claim to own the rainbow, but in the end, we earned it.