I see these peope walk down the streets

with their kids

their friends

alone

I see thair lives you can just watch them play out before you

Do they know I exist

Do they struggle like me

Does any of it matter

I am the loner

surrounded by people

as they say they care

they claim to know me

Do they know my mindset

how I care for others more than myself

how I struggle to show I know what's being asked in class

my own gender identity

They don't know me at all

he

him

his

boy

They don't know that's me

They see me as delicate skin

long hair

elegant eyelashes

and full breasts

things I don't even care for

things I'd rather disappear

They don't know me

just as the people on the street do not know me

As I sit there 

on a park bench

and watch as they go on with their lives

I wonder

who there

  on the crosswalk

    walking in front of cars with impatient  drivers

out of them

 are any of them like me

  are they at war in their minds

   Is their strength failing too?