Transition looks like courage
(or stupidity, but aren’t
those often the same)
To people on the outside.
But is a drowning man courageous
For trying to swim?
It’s not the noble courage
That leads trans* people to survive
But humble desperation.
We live the way we do
Because it is either live
As we are
Or die
As we are not.
(which is admittedly ignoble,
but does that make the opposite noble?)
Our lives aren’t really tragedies,
Because they are ours.
This is the way we survive
Nothing glorious or courageous
About it really.