Searching For Myself Poem by Leonard Dabydeen

Searching For Myself

Not hiding
the gilded truth
not even faking it
and calling it a lie
but knowing it
to be my umbilical truth
as I amber along
dressing
and undressing myself
like changing clothes
and places
and things to do
always looking forward
without seeing
backward shadows
to identify myself
as I am
as I want to be
without pain
of burdened disclosure
searching for myself.

(Tribute: Jose Antonio Vargas)