To be a bird in the way that crows sit together on wires

To be a cat in the way that orange cats chirp at bugs

To be human in the way that humans hold an umbrella out at rainy bus stops

To be a robot in the way that tin bots march together

To be a vampire in the way that they can fly across the moon with no cares

To be a pirate in the way that Blackbeard threw Stede Bonnet’s belongings overboard for love

To be alive in the way that your heart beats with excitement

To be dead in the way where you wonder if people would care

To be a ghost in the way that ghosts watch and listen with no one to do the same for them

But I can’t be a bird or a robot

All I can do is sit with people on wires 

And march with others

But I can’t be a bird or a robot

It’s unfortunate, but that’s how it is

It wasn’t meant to be

But there are other things I can be

I could be a boy in the way that adults search for me, asking, “Where is that boy?”

I could be a girl in the way old people shake their heads because I sit with my legs spread

I could be kind in the way people sometimes look at me sadly, knowing that I am putting others before myself. 

I’m not that either, though

Not entirely anyways

Instead, I’m my own 

I am a child in the way gods peer down at humans

I am an adult in the way that children look at me with a certain admiration 

I am human in the way I slip by unnoticed by most

I am a ghost in the way that when I shout, everyone is surprised 

I am a loser in the way that I lose more than I gain 

I’m a winner in the way that I’m still alive after all this time