Sorry

Doppelgänger

Double of a living person//a biologically unrelated look alike




7 billion people on the planet

And I spent most of my days in a quest for the someone out there who is just like me

Needing help like me

As sick as me

As afraid as me

Who has been holding her breath as long as I have




There is another human being learning to survive under water and pressure

With a housekeeper for a mother and janitor for a father…

The granddaughter of the neighborhood’s coffee seller and bread giver

My cousins are teachers and future doctors who study in oppressive countries to bring survival to the porches of the oppressed




So I imagine

There is someone who is afraid of drowning under the pressure of her legacy

Bearing the weight of a third world’s tongue

There is another daughter of the island beneath the sea




I was told that a problem shared is a problem halved

But what of a problem doubled

Replicated across the planet

Searching for solutions




It is in my genetics

I should’ve known it would be my job to serve but I never knew it would look like this

I assumed I would be a doctor

Always looking to heal others




The Navajo have a name for people like me

Sandpainter




Someone who helps people be the best of what they are

Someone who seeks to understand




Someone who is willing to serve the people because that is how we move forward




we don’t need much credit 

we master our roles

And hold the hands of those looking to be held

we chose to be a listeners

Listening for the sound of our replicas

Hoping that a bat call would bring us together 

Call a community home

Find others mastering the dance between lineage and trendsetting

Tap dancing between heritage and truth

And finding our twins

Who may not be the same color as us

Or the same weight

But has walked the same path

And not only feels like us but is living like us

Looking to be loved like us