What belongs to us
other than the self
we frightfully lay claim to
buried and heaped upon
by the thoughts and opinions of society
judging our wealth
to be less than our value.
Words do not belong to us
we lose ownership in the act of speaking
and hearing ears that gather them up
only capable of reinterpreting
the gift or the curse.
We belong to ourselves
and nearly to each other
caged by the sameness
of the struggle to exist.

                       Anwar Francis