to say that 

i simply admire you

would be a gross understatement

on my part.

as a child,

i seldom heard of you as a figure to honor.

but once the moon 

of mass citizen shaping began to pass,

and i was allowed to explore for myself 

what life as i 

has meant and will mean,

you were the first beam of sunlight 

that peeked past

that body of conformity.

your words and the way you used them,

your intellectual brawn,

your fortitude in the face

of a white world that couldn't hate you more,

can be described 

as nothing short of transformative.

nothing short of world changing.