I am a percentage,

I am the one out of four that suffers inside my mind

I am the seventeen of one hundred born with darker skin

I am the three-point-four out of one hundred that will be judged my entire life for who I love

 

but that is not who I am.

I am a percentage, I am a demographic, I am one out of many, but I am not the many

I am the one

I am the one that will live

will thrive

I am the one that will survive

 

I am strong,

I am the tree with the weakest of roots,

yet I stand

I stand because I will never stand alone

 

I am strong because I will never forget.

the one

the seventeen

the three-point-four

 

these numbers make me strong,

like a wind

on a mountain

trying to beat a tree

into submission

 

and remind me,

I am the one tree beaten time

and time again

but still I stand

and remember

 

that I never stand alone.