Where Are You From?

​Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash

Where are you from?
It’s hard to say
He said.
Here and there,
Everywhere.
Is that ok?
Well yes.
But it’s unusual.
I guess,
He said.
But that is how it is.
It’s who I am:
Unfettered,
Accept perhaps
To the thing that you avoid.
It is that one thing 
That compels me 
To be so many things,
Principally, the one you need.
Just here
Just now.
Is that ok?
Well Yes,
But I don’t know
How to place you.
Does it matter?
He asked.
Well no.
But if you’re unfettered
How will I know
Your customs?
How will I
Make your sign?
You won’t,
He said.
You are not prepared
To be so many things.
And it’s enough
Today,
To try to be
That thing that is needed
Just here.
Just now.
And what I need from you
Is nothing,
The thing that you avoid.
Can you leave 
The thing you are 
In favor
Of the something more,
In favor of another’s customs
In favor of a foreign sign
If so, then there’s a chance
That one day
You will join my people 
And learn our customs,
Share our signs.
But I warn you…
There are those
Who will not have it
For they cannot stand 
To have the thing that they avoid
Paraded in front of them.
And when they’ve cast you out
For not being wholely theirs.
Then you’ll be prepared
To join the host of those
Who bear no emblem
But truth itself,
That truth that sees the beauty
In the customs 
They despise.
And then you’ll fully 
Be what’s needed.
Just here.
Just now.