These were hardy people
Stern and stolid,
Solemn stoic,
And they’re relatively equal
I can see it
And I know it
And among them
How I struggled
To conform
And integrate
To learn my place
Within a culture
I could not appropriate
Assimilation
Not my strongest suit
Linguistics class
I failed
And as a teacher of my own
I might as well have spoken Braille
And by comparison it paled
In living standards
I was jailed
But wealth disparity
Was fair
And food desertion
We could bare
And trust me
Even at its worst
I was not genuinely
Scared
So with a hindsight
20/20
Only now I see it clear,
Within a country
So much more
Divided
By its fear