Yes I Will Wear One

(lines written in response the suggestion that

those who are mentally ill should wear

wristbands to identify their conditions)

Yes, I will wear one:
retiring, undefeated,
or at least not admitting it,
as I back away,
hot tears rolling from eyes 
spiked with despair
down cheeks
hollowed by time,
I will wave 
both my arms
in the air, cry:
It's not me. It's them.
They are the ones
who are cruel 
to their fellows,
who are driven
by desire for 
consumables,
kept alive by fear
of their own emptiness
and justified
by profit and loss.
Just make it a pretty one;
make it the colour
of the skies
dappled with daisies,
celandines and buttercups,
pink hedgerow roses
and bluebells.
I will wear one
gladly.
I will wear it
with pride.
Mine should say this:
a well of wise sadness;
flawed but still
perfectly human.

Abigail Elizabeth Ottley Wyatt