Poet Of The Day: Darnella Ford

It's National Poetry Month, so I am going to try to post up a poem each day.

I read the following poem two years ago when I was searching for Darnella Ford's website. It's absolutely amazing to me. I hope you find this poem as inspirational as I did.

BELONG by Darnella Ford

 Every time I step into a room I disappear
 And even though you see me now--
 Still, I am not here
 I fell somewhere between the cracks
 And I feel them getting wider--
 Have YOU ever seen the world
 Through the eyes of an outsider?
 Belonging for me was something that often fell beyond my range--
 The things that most defined as normal
 I often thought were strange.
 I often stare at others--
 Almost everyone I see,
 Asking through a voiceless whisper, "Do you feel like me?"
 I want to know if you feel like me.
 But no one quite admits it
 At least they don't out loud,
 And people bleed to bind themselves and fit within the crowd.
 Where does one go from here?
 Don't tell me this is it--
 Wherein lies the "Promised Land" for those who just don't fit?
 For I know that I must belong to something.
 I belong to those who love me
 My friends and next of kin,
 But foremost I am also a child of God
 So I know I belong to him--
 I belong to the Earth
 Composed of dust as I stand here--
 I am the fire, wind-rain and sun
 I am a child of atmosphere.
 I belong to all that's breathing
 And this much I know is true--
 And even if I never fit in
 I still belong to y-o-u
 And that makes us connected
 At least from what I see,
 And it stands to reason that if I belong to you--
 Then every single one of you belong to me.
 And I cannot separate us--not one from the other
 And you are just as much my sister
 As your neighbor is my brother.
 So, this is my authentic answer
 And I don't need it to be right or wrong,
 Poetically speaking, this is my summation
 Of the "world" where I belong.