The year is 2012 and I am not okay

The cinderblock walls suffocate me

As I listen to everyone around me 

They're talking, they're talking

Talk, talk, talk

An endless symphony of gossip and jokes I don't get

I don't belong, I don't belong 

Why can't I just belong

 

Maybe next year, I say

I'm only a freshman

Maybe next year, I say again

It's better to be an upperclassman

Maybe next year, I say again

Seniors always have fun

 

Maybe next year, I say again

As I sit in the fluorescent gown and ill-fitted cap

Maybe that will be when I get to belong

They hand me my diploma, a certificate of my isolation

For four years she sat in this building and didn't belong

 

The year is 2016 and I am moving into college

Fully prepared to not belong

It's all I've known for the past four years 

Why wouldn't I know it for the next

 

But something is different

Suddenly, a change

I am no longer running

Just drifting leisurely

 

Because now when I speak

I feel heard

Now when I listen

I feel engaged

After years of wondering what it was I needed

I found it 

And I am better today

 

I am home

I belong, I belong

I finally belong