I was born no one
Given a name, I became someone
I am a daughter.
Later, I became a sister.
I am a friend, an enemy, a girlfriend.
I am a student and an employee.
I became a wife and a mother.
Nieces came along, and I became an aunt.
As time elapsed, I began to wonder—
Who am I?
Am I the sum of my roles?
Am I just a person?
Who is this stranger staring
At me from the mirror?
At one time, I thought I knew.
Now, this stranger appears—
Worn, ragged, wrinkled.
Who is she?
Her body is transformed from
Childbirth and years of decay.
Am I her?
I know that I am someone, but who?
Am I a poet, a scholar, an artist?
Do the things I do define me?
Listening to my heart beat,
I know that alive—
I am