I am a black man living in a white world.
Living as dark a life as my skin tone.
Always hidden in the shadows.
Never able to pull myself out of the darkness,
Never able to reveal my true self.
Like black ink smeared on a white sheet of paper,
Creating an inerasable, unwanted smudge

I am a crippled man living in a “perfect” world.
My life is as crooked as my back,
My back is a crooked as my twisted soul.
It’s as if my life has been turned upside,
And was never turned right side up.
I view them from a different perspective,
And they judge me from their normal position.

I am an angry man living in a content world.
Anger courses through my veins,
Like a raging river.
My rage consumes me,
Never allowing my soul to be at peace.

I am a fearful man living in a bold world.
Frightened of them and what they think.
Their eyes are always on me,
Watching me meticulously.
Like a hunter stalking its prey,
They wait, as my fear devours me.

I am a weak man living in a strong world.
Defeated each and every day.
I’m trapped in my own pain.
A victim of my own doings.
I can’t escape my feelings of inadequacy.
I am unable to battle the agony.

I am a failing man in a succeeding world.
I carry around the failure of my past.
I know I will fail before even trying.
I relive the same tragedy each and everyday.
My life has become a constant cycle of struggle and failure.

I am an invisible man living in a real world.
My presence feels like an absence,
My voice is never heard.
They talk over me as if I’m not even there,
Oblivious to the depth of my pain.

I am a poor man living in a privileged world.
I am held back by my disadvantages.
Restrained from reaching my potential.
Unable to break free of the barriers separating me from the others.
The walls between us are insurmountable.
I am trapped on the other side with no way of crossing the barrier.

I am a bitter man living in a pleasant world.
Bitterness eats away at my last chance of happiness.
My optimism has been slowly rotting away since day one.
My contentment has been stolen from me.
And now my smile turned down into a permanent frown.

I am a hopeless man in an optimistic world.
Hope is far gone by now,
At this point I have reluctantly given up.
My last wisp of hope has been blown away.
I am completely unaware what hope even is.

I am a hateful man in a loving world.
Its like my heart has been torn out of my chest.
And crumbled into little pieces.
I’m a heartless, uncompassionate man.
But their compassion for me is nowhere to be found either.
Compassion is somewhere lost in the far distance between me and them. 
Never likely to be aroused.

I am a dying rose in a bouquet of flowers.
I’m dead inside with no emotions,
Slowly decaying from lack of love and nourishment.
My prickly thorns scare them away,
My petals wither and droop in defeat.

I am an island in a big ocean.
A small piece of land surrounded by water.
I stand alone in the middle of nowhere. 
Separated by miles and miles of ocean.
A large ocean filled with grief and pain.

In a world of billions of people, an isolated man am I.