I did everything right
I stayed quiet
I stayed small
I learned your words
I learned your rules
I learned how not to fall
I grew up on your streets
On your promises
On borrowed hope
Now you’re saying “go back”
Like I’ve got somewhere left to go
Where do I go
When “home” is a story
And not a place
When the only flag I know
Is burned into my face
You say it’s just the law
Like that makes it clean
Like you didn’t watch me grow
Like you didn’t teach me how to dream
I’m not a headline
I’m not a threat
I’m not the thing you’re scared of yet
I’m a kid you watched grow up
Now you’re trying to forget
I’m scared of the night
Scared of the knock
Scared of the word “deported”
Like it’s not a sentence
Like it’s not a coffin
Like it’s not loaded
You say “go home”
But home is fire
Home is ghosts
Home is gone
I didn’t run toward something better
I just ran from what was wrong
Tell me how I’m illegal
When I bleed like you
Tell me how I don’t belong
When I sound like you
When I pray like you
When I break like you
I work, I wait, I hope, I beg
I hold my breath inside my chest
Every siren feels like a verdict
Every night feels like my last test
If I disappear
Will you even notice
Will my name stay stuck in your throat
Or will I just be another number
Another “shouldn’t have been here” quote
I’m tired of proving I’m human
I’m tired of earning air
I’m tired of being grateful
For a life that’s always scared
I don’t want special treatment
I don’t want your pity
I just want tomorrow
In the place that made me me
Don’t send me back
Don’t erase me
Don’t pretend you don’t know
I grew up here
I loved here
I learned how to hope
I’m still here
I’m still breathing
I’m still begging you—
See me
CharmedX
