What is it like to switch your fate?
You’d have to be trans to understand
In a school full of kids who question you as you question yourself
With a friend who talks and talks about how he dislikes trans people without knowing
And then when he turns to you
he expects you to agree with what he’s said?
You have to be trans to understand.
Or the coach who thinks that you’re too unusual to fix You must first learn how to talk with your voice even if you don’t like the way it sounds
So mumbo-jumbo with hands on your face
For hours and hours without patience or end,
Until out comes a faint resembling sound of a guys voice
You have to be trans to understand.
What is it like to be curious,
To thirst for knowledge you can call your own,
With an inner desire that’s set on fire —
And you ask a brother, sister, or friend
Who looks in answer and says, “I’ve never felt that way”
You have to be trans to understand.
What is it like in a corner to stand,
Though there’s nothing you’ve done really wrong
Other than try to make sense of yourself
to people who may never understand
A thought that comes to your mind all at once
You have to be trans to understand.
What is it like to be shouted at
When someone thinks that will help fix you
Or the sharpened jokes of a friend
but you don’t get the point because he said he didn’t care?
You have to be trans to understand.
What is it like to be laughed at
When you try to repeat what is said
Just to be told you know me better than I know myself
And you find that the words were misread —
And you want to cry out, “Please help me, friend!”?
You have to be trans to understand.
What is it like to have to depend
Upon how well you can hide yourself ;
Or how well your binder works
And be forced to share what’s personal, and
Then find that you weren’t able to hide it well enough
You have to be trans to understand.
What is it like to be trans and alone
In the company of those who you’re unsure
who you can trust—
And you only guess as you go along,
For no one’s there with a helping hand,
As you try to keep a smile on your face and your head held high
You have to be trans to understand.
What is it like to be measured by the steps you took today rather than the steps you took yesterday
To meet with a stranger who
speaks out a line one you’ve waited to hear
“Im here and I understand how you feel”
this is new and you’re lost in the race
You have to be trans to understand.
What is it like to look in the mirror
a flattened chest and small dirt stash that paint the scene,
And make you smile and feel serene
With the “spoken word” of the forbidden
That makes you part of the world at large?
You have to be trans to understand.
what is it like to switch your fate?
Yes, you have to be trans to understand
