My Own Personal Hell

vi.

You sat in front of me on the bus this morning.

Barely acknowledged my existence.

But you were there

And that was all that mattered.

I saw you glance at me out of the corner of your eye.

It didn’t matter that you didn’t say hey

But you looked at me.

It felt like I could breath again;

Your acceptance was permission for me,

To be me, for a mere moment.

But it was enough

Because you saw dignity in me again.