What About Me Poem by Angela Davis

How is it that everyone knows what I need?
How can they know, when I have no idea
What with which to fill this large aching void?
They say that they love me, but cannot
Because they have not what I need
What is this thing I need
This thing they see so clearly?
They speak of failing me
They worry they will hurt me,
They can’t give me what I desire
Like these things are strangers to me
What about me?
I don’t know. I am lost and confused.
I don’t know what I need; I know what I have
I know what I think
I love them, and I need them.
They speak of my pain like it doesn’t exist,
It isn’t real unless they give me this gift.
But it already exists… it is a living being.
The pain, it has taken over me.
I am a shadow, an echo of who I was.
They hint of who I am…
How can they know this
When not even I do?
They hint about leaving me
Because of so many things:
They will fail me; they will hurt me;
They can’t give me what I need
Or what I deserve… safety
And so I will lose them
In the name of protection,
Misguided by love.
How can they not realize
This will be the death of me?
I need to love and be loved
But they would deny me this…
For my safety, and my happiness…
What about me?