12 March 2009 

You look at me with scorn,
you watch me with dismay,
you pity me cause my spirit is torn,
you offer charity and you pray. 

I have AIDS,
but does that make me any less than you?
cause your conceitedness fills me with rage,
what! You think it can never happen to you? 

I never asked for it,
I was never a prostitute on the streets,
I was never an addict with injections to hit,
I was never a jamette sexing with every beast she meets. 

I was a virgin,
and the sin I sought was love,
with only one man I wanted to indulge in,
cause I thought his love was trusting enough. 

He told me he was a virgin to,
and I was the only woman he’ll ever need,
and horning he will never do,
cause what I had was so succulent and sweet. 

I took that chain up nice,
and I gave him my sweet womanly innocence all,
condoms were never an alternative or a choice,
as I didn’t deterred to his sexual call. 

That night was amazing,
but then oddly I didn’t see him in months on end,
and that compelled me to start searching,
then I heard from his friends he was dead. 

They said he died from AIDS,
my life flashed before my very eyes,
as promiscuity throughout his life he engaged,
and now he spreaded the disease to mine. 

Immediately I got tested,
this confirmed my utmost fear,
he gave me HIV now I was infected,
this weight was now mine to bear. 

I started getting thin,
I looked like skin and bones,
I started getting sores about my skin,
now I had AIDS full blown. 

I started getting weak,
and I caught every single cold and flu,
my eye sight was getting bleak,
I could have barely kept up my stool. 

My family didn’t want me,
so they kicked me out like a dog,
cause they feared I’d give them the disease,
they were so ill informed and wrong. 

So now I roam Port of Spain streets,
I’m weak and a frame of what I use to be,
scouring through rejected food for a meal,
till the master is ready for me. 

I am a vagrant now,
my clothes dirty black and stink,
the yellow crucifix around my neck give me hope somehow,
when will god take me? Is what I think. 

So though you watch me with utmost scorn,
and you look at me with utter dismay,
and though the veil of AIDS was mine to wore,
and you offer your prayers and you pray. 

I don’t need your pity,
neither do I need your prayers,
or your glance of scorn and sympathy,
keep your free meals and your tears. 

Ill accept a hug,
make me feel like a human again,
cause you can’t get AIDS from this type of love,
hug me to show me you care. 

Hold my hand,
cause honestly; honestly I am scared,
I feel so alone in this land,
I am begging to be your friend. 

Talk to me,
let me know that you are not afraid,
of the fact that I have AIDS and HIV,
cause like you I am a creature that god had made. 

Look at me,
not with scorn or utter disgust,
not with pity or sympathy,
but like a fellow human you trust. 

This is all I want,
to be respected like everyone else,
cause the AIDS I have is not a front,
and I won’t spread it to anyone else. 

So in the end when I die,
and heavens is where I’ll be,
I’ll be at rest cause no one else,
was scorned for having AIDS or HIV. 

My seventeen year old dreams and innocence was taken away from me,
from just one moment I took a chance,
by a man with a history of promiscuity,
I could have sworn I trusted this man. 

Had I only used a condom,
or even better, had I only abstained,
by society I wouldn’t have been abandoned,
neither would I have been living with AIDS. 

So I’m pleading with those who read this poem,
if you are thinking about sex use your A, B, Cs,
Abstain, Be faithful and Comdomize,
and you won’t catch the HIV disease. 

Even if you don’t have AIDS,
treat those who do with love and respect,
cause honestly you have nothing to be afraid,
cause by showing love we wont reject.