The room is filled,

Corner to corner,

Some faces look mildly familiar,

While others look like complete strangers

They all speak with open hearts,

Exchanging greetings and memories,

For as many people in the room,

There is just as much conversation,

Each anxious with their own story to tell,

Only I couldn’t understand,

They all spoke in our native language,

A language that became almost foreign to me,

I try to read the expressions on the many faces,

Little did it work,

Everybody is laughing, but me,

Why do I feel so alone,

I’m surrounded by family, aren’t I?

Everybody’s faces full of emotion,

Mine remains blank and in discomfort,

I want to feel the same joy that fills the room,

I feel like an outsider to my own people,

But at the same time I’m an outsider to the world,

So where is it, that I belong?