Free in Every Hue

By: Nine

Graphics by: Cassius Klai C. Francisco

Colors are binary.

The common blue for boys,

Pink for girls—

A deviation is unordinary

But what of hues do they never name?

Ones that burn brighter than the flame?

Alienation is feared by many.

As straying is deemed absurd,

Shunned away with whispers of a word

But this is embraced by the few

Those who have hearts of gold,

Those who break from the rigid mold  

Those who have to be twice:

Twice as smart, twice as funny—twice as pretty

“Twice” does not mean security,

Superlatives are not definitive

When “once” is enough to be,

Yet when one is outside the predefined box,

Tolerance is the only guarantee

Yet there is a thriving community,

Their colors bloom, not just in June

They rise with the sun, and sleep with the moon

A spectrum vast, a truth their own,

They paint the world in every little tone

A mosaic of light,

Where wings are not scathed for daring to fly,

Where no colors are restricted,

One with immense diversity, with those willing to try

No heart unloved

For love does not ask for permission,

And expression is not rebellion

It is a right to uphold,

A right to proclaim

No closet, no metal can imprison

There is no limit, no boundary

As there is love in expression,

Because to express is to release a decree,

That love is, and will always be free