This was taken from an ESE newsletter, Partners, Issue No. 1, 1990 - 91.

I need no more from you
beyond the basic good manners
set down in any society;
unwritten guidelines concerning
how one human being treats another ---

I am not rare
anymore than your nephew
or a redheaded teacher
or a skinny cheerleader ---

I am sorry laws were necessary to mainstream me
--- such a humorous gesture ---
like main streaming a colt into a pasture.
I was baptized in the stream of life the day I was born,

I am part of the earth
like the leaves on that tree;
like the fingers on your hand,
the stones and mountains
of various shapes and hues.

I am simply a child
to whom you are responsible
to teach, to guide, to discipline
And, depending on your size as a person,
To Love!!!

--anonymous