What is the price
of being embraced by others
if the embrace demands
the quiet burial of my own voice?
Belonging that asks me
to erase myself
is not belonging at all—
it is a cage
where love turns hollow
and freedom cannot breathe.
True belonging begins
where I no longer apologize
for the shape of my soul,
where my voice rises unbroken
and my presence is not a threat
but a truth honored in full.
To belong is not to vanish—
it is to stand whole
and still be welcomed.