"Labeled" - Bahamas AI Art
©A. Derek Catalano
Don't Label Me
You see a face, a style, a stride,
And think you know the soul inside.
You reach for stickers, ink, and pen,
To sort me in a little den.
With narrow terms and boxed-in thought,
You seek to trap what can’t be caught.
But look again, and look more deep,
Before you take that mental leap.
Don’t label me with shorthand words,
Like silhouettes of phantom birds.
I am a map with shifting coast,
A living breath, no hollow ghost.
I am the sum of all I’ve been,
The wars I’ve lost, the grace I’ve seen.
There is no tag that you can buy,
To pin me like a butterfly.
I am a river, not a lake,
Defined by every turn I take.
Today I’m fire, bright and bold,
Tomorrow, water, deep and cold.
I carry lineages of light,
And shadows from the blackest night.
I am a scholar and a fool,
A jagged edge, a steady tool.
You say I’m "this," you say I’m "that,"
Based on a look or idle chat.
You try to categorize the heart,
As if it were a work of art,
Static upon a gallery wall,
Expected never to change at all.
But I am movement, pulse, and heat,
The steady rhythm of the street.
My faith, my race, the clothes I wear,
The way I choose to cut my hair—
These are the brushes, not the paint;
I am no devil, nor a saint.
I am the gray between the lines,
The hidden ore within the mines.
If you define me by a name,
You lose the spark within the flame.
A label is a heavy weight,
A way to seal a person’s fate.
It tells the world what they should see,
Instead of who I strive to be.
It breeds a wall, it builds a fence,
At the curious mind’s expense.
It stops the question, ends the quest,
And puts the human soul to rest.
So take your stickers, put them back,
Within your mental storage rack.
Stop looking for a shelf for me,
In your vast library of "thee."
Invite me in, let’s talk a while,
Beyond the mask, beyond the style.
For in the space where names dissolve,
The mysteries of life evolve.
I am a thousand different keys,
A forest, not just several trees.
I am a book with pages torn,
A legacy yet to be born.
I am the silence and the shout,
The certainty and nagging doubt.
I am a world you’ve yet to see—
So please, I beg, don't label me.
©A. Derek Catalano/Gemini
