Stateless

I was born in 2003 but my life began in ‘05

Brussels, Belgium, with all us school kids, I felt so alive

There were just the few of us, a class of thirteen

We had all the colours- black, white, and everything in between

Without language, creed, nor class as a barrier

Our connection was pure, we had no exterior

If the little French we spoke didn’t get us far

Au moins je t'aurai toujours avec moi

With my friends, I never once felt lost or empty inside

We stood strong and walked together with pride

We didn’t have to conquer the world, there was no need

‘Cause we had our own world, the outside we took no heed

But my whole world turned upside down in 2010

When I came to the States and never belonged again

In my classes, the only kid that remotely looked like me

Was my own reflection in my tears, no one else could see

I came home crying to my amma, every single day

Askin’, “When will the other kids finally talk to me?”

She could only hold me tight and pray things would change

“Once you go to college,” she’d say, “Just be patient and wait”

Now it’s 2020, I’m in college and done patiently waitin’ 

So excited to virtually meet and fit in with the other Asians

I look to my computer screen, but once again I see

That my reflection is still the only person there that looks like me

I flip through my atlas to make sure I’m in the right place

India is still in Asia, aren’t I part of the Asian race?

I desperately try to fit in, hoping that history

Won’t repeat itself with the same decade-old misery

But it’s worse this time, because in ‘10, I was excluded by ‘the other’

But now the people overlooking me are from the same Asian mother

Land, I suppose, is not enough to unite us

I guess I’ll forever be roamin’ the world stateless.