Poem: We Are of This Place

We Are of This Place

though it is not clear,
though you think we are new,
are not the same as you,
do not belong or fit:
this is home, has been,
generations before us
called it by that name.
We are not the ones
who came to this place.
We can respect your claim,
but you must know ours,
must see why it cannot be denied.
There is a way for both of us.
It is not only to be yours or mine.

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