Do I look like I belong?
At school events, in volleyball,
Wearing the team uniform we share?
If anytime, masked men lay snare.
Do I look like I belong?
On training days, mid-belly crawl?
Ready to fight, obey command—
To protect our shared homeland.
Do I look like I belong?
In elders’ home, with Tylenol,
Still caring for their lonely years—
Oh yes, in spite of neighbors’ sneers.
Do I look like I belong?
In prison camps, near border wall?
No. Quotas steal my name, my story,
They want us faceless— transitory.
Do I look like I belong?
Who else fled king’s deadly call
But Jesus, escaped in night’s dark gaps—
Until Herod’s ugly reign collapsed.
Do I look like I belong?
Did Adam ask Neanderthal?
“Yes,” I hope was the reply.
“Space for us all, don’t be shy.”
Do I look like I belong?
By weathered graves, in mourning shawl,
Immigrants buried here, xenophiles,
In this place we call… Mother of Exiles?
Do I feel like I belong?
Sometimes, yes—
Or, not at all.
Do I look—
Wait, who could not?
So yes, I should.
She did, he does,
They would! They will!
Believe Her still,
This is a land of We…
We the People.
We the Free.